Mario & Luigi: Pure Evil
by Dreaming Creator
Summary: After one long year, Mario and Co. attempt to bring Nico back. However, they are not the only ones, as they will soon find out. With a plan in his mind, what will happen once Nicbot encounters Nico and our four heroes again? Will the four be able to keep their friend, or is Dark Nico going to rise again? The third installment of my series.
1. Searching and Finding

**After a long break, I finally am back. I am going to warn you right away, don´t expect frequent uploads for now. My finals are coming closer, but I´ll try to write this anyways. Hopefully this story will be as good as the last ones, maybe even better.**

 **With that being said, enjoy!**

* * *

He looked at his calendar, and crossed another day out. It now had been an entire year since he left his friends and retreated into Somnom Woods, and the day of truth had come. Either they would look for him in order to bring him back, or they wouldn´t. What would he do if they didn´t come, though?

* * *

Mario and Luigi hopped off the Zeeppelin, which had brought them to Pi'illo Island, now that it was time to get Nico back. Not only did they come here in order to search for him and welcome him back, if they could find him, that was; but were also there to assist Starlow and Dreambert in battle, should something have happened with their friend. He might have gone insane or worse, but they didn´t know what would await them in the forest.

"Do you think he´s alright?" Luigi asked his brother while they walked into the direction of Pi'illo Castle.

"He´s an excellent fighter, so I doubt that something managed to harm him. The things we should be concerned about are his mental state and Dark Nico," Mario replied.

"I hope that we´ll be able to restore everything to normal again…" Luigi said, worried about what would happen once they found Nico…if they could find him, of course.

Inside of Pi'illo Castle, Starlow and Dreambert readied themselves for their search. Starlow had kept Nico´s message and the instructions in order to find him locked in the caves behind Pi'illo Castle. Now that the time had come, she hovered towards the statue of the Zeekeeper, where they had found Dreambert as a petrified pillow.

Pressing certain spots on the statue, she opened a small hatch, which contained Nico´s letter. She brought it back to the Meeting Room, where she and Dreambert were supposed to meet Mario and Luigi. As she entered it after arriving there, she could see that the brothers were already there.

"Mario, Luigi. It´s nice to see you two again," she greeted them.

"Same about you, Starlow," Luigi replied.

"Do you have the instructions, my dear?" Dreambert asked.

"Here they are," Starlow said, and put the paper on the table.

 _If you are reading this, one year should have passed and you are intending to find me. I am willing to come back to you, but I won´t make it easy for you. If I am to come back, you´ll have to earn me. Go to the Pi'illo Temple in Somnom Woods, you will receive additional information there. Nico_

"So we need to go there first. Let´s take the Warp Pipe and look for more clues," Starlow said after she read the message out loud.

"Let´s go, then. Is everyone ready?" Dreambert asked.

"Yes. Let´s find him," everyone replied with enthusiasm.

They went to the pipe under the stairs in Pi'illo Castle and gathered on top of it. They were then warped into Somnom Woods, where their friend was hidden. Mario and Luigi stood on the platform, which transported them over the gap. The four then made their way towards the Pi'illo Temple in order to find the next instructions.

* * *

 _Repair: successful._

 _System: operational._

 _Warning: System still damaged, weapons offline. Thruster capacity: Mushroom Kingdom and return._

 _Booting NICBOT-Unit…_

On Mt. Pajamaja, something started moving under a pile of snow. Soon, a metallic fist emerged from it. It didn´t take long for the being to free itself from the snow, and it stood up after a year of repairing. He had to gather information on how everything had turned out after he had been defeated by their opponents. Nicbot looked at the wall he had fallen down. He would have been able to fly up there, but the possibility of the worst-case scenario still existed. The robot started climbing up the wall, determined to find out what he had missed in one year.

* * *

Mario, Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert entered the Pi'illo Temple, just to see four blocks hovering inside of it. A red one with a "M" on it, a green one with a "L" on it, and a yellow one and a red one with a heart on both of them. Understanding what the blocks meant, Mario and Luigi stood under their respective blocks, while Starlow hovered under the yellow one and Dreambert under the red one with the heart on it. They simultaneously hit the four blocks, and waited for something to happen.

Four runes came out of the blocks, and they projected signs into the middle of the room. Dreambert recognized them instantly, as they were symbols of the Pi'illos´ language. He hovered up to them, and read out loud what was written.

 _The four have arrived, intending to bring him back. Do they deserve to find him, though? Or rather….does he deserve to be found? It can only be answered through the next tasks. If the four are determined to bring him back, they won´t back down and follow these instructions. Head north, you will find a path. Follow it, until you get a new message._

"So he wants to see if he is of enough value to us, by testing our determination…" Starlow concluded.

"Well then, let´s do it! We´ll get him back," Mario announced, and the four of them left the temple again.

* * *

The first rune was glowing green. This meant that they were in the temple, and most likely heading towards the first riddle now. Nico stood up, and packed the runes into a makeshift-backpack. He then set off into the direction of the first riddle. He wanted to see them, after all this time. The human left the clearing, and disappeared into the forest.

* * *

The group walked on a small path north of the temple, and the further they walked, the more magic Starlow could feel around her. This part of the forest hadn´t been visited by many, and it seemed like there were more runes like the one Nico had used in the temple. After a while, they reached a crossing. They didn´t know where to head next, but before they were able to discuss their next course of action, a new message was projected in the air by another rune, hidden behind a bush.

 _Where to go, where to find him…only one way leads to their friend. You may only choose once, and can´t change your mind once you´ve chosen a path. You´ll get a hint, in order to make it fair: think outside the box…_

"That hint is there for a reason," Starlow said, and started to look around.

Each path looked the same, and it was obvious to Starlow that the right answer wasn´t visible to them, though the wrong ones were. She investigated the area next to each path, looking for a way that was hidden from them.

And after a few minutes, she found it. It was hard to notice, but the branches on one tree were positioned perfectly for climbing up. She flew upwards, and discovered a makeshift path of branches between leaves. After making her discovery, she hovered down to her friends again.

"It looks like you can climb up there to access a hidden path. I´d say we follow it," she told them.

"That would explain why he had to 'think outside the box'," Dreambert agreed.

The Mario Bros. climbed up the tree using the branches, and then jumped from branch to branch. Nico used a liana to swing to a nearby tree from his position, where he had been spectating the four of them solving the riddle. He then took another path hidden out of sight, so he was going to be ahead of them again.

After following the "path" for five minutes, the group found a tree they could climb down again, as the path in the trees seemed to end. What they found once they´ve reached the ground again was a narrow passage between rocks, only wide enough for one person at a time. They followed the path, and after they had passed through the passage, stood in front of a barrier, made of magic. A large rune was placed in front of it, and a message was written above it.

 _So now they arrived at the barrier. It is easy to deactivate, by standing on the rune here. But beware, it will only be deactivated while one of you is on there, which means that you´ll have to leave someone behind. While you are on the rune, a protective barrier will be around it, so you are safe from dangers. Or you turn back and won´t return, it is up to you. Make your choice._

"Do we really want to leave someone here?" Luigi asked, worried about monsters.

"If we want Nico back, we´ll have to go through this," Starlow reminded him.

"I´ll stay, I can look after myself," Mario offered.

"Seems to be the best option we have," Starlow agreed.

"Alright, it´s settled, then," Dreambert said.

Mario stepped onto the rune, and a barrier appeared around him. The barrier blocking the way deeper into the woods disappeared simultaneously. The remaining three of them proceeded, and waved their friend goodbye before following the path that was behind the barrier.

* * *

Everything looked just like one year ago, and the island was as populated as before; he was able to see it with his scanners from the summit of Mt. Pajamaja. It could only have one meaning: Dark Nico had been beaten again. After he calculated all of the possible ways things could have gone after his master´s defeat, he concluded that Nico was living somewhere now, separated from everyone. But he would allow his friends to look for him, so if they found him, he would have to be prepared.

Looking through his memory, he eventually found something, hidden in Nico´s old house back in Mushroom Kingdom. Before he started his thrusters, however, he checked something in his protocols. What he found was satisfying, and it would serve him soon.

 _Perfect. Once I´m through with that, I can create a plan_ , Nicbot thought, and started his thrusters in order to travel to Mushroom Kingdom again.

* * *

The trio entered a clearing. The first thing they noticed was a ring of stones in the center of it, as well as another magical barrier on the other side of the clearing blocking the way. There was a message above a rune in front of the barrier, which Dreambert read out loud.

 _This one is quite simple: there are three pieces of runes hidden on and around this clearing. Only one of them will activate the rune next to this one, which then can be used to deactivate this barrier. You only have one attempt, though. Here´s a hint: the one who is the most meaningful to me holds the right one._

They saw the rune lying next to the other rune, and it was missing a part in its center. The three of them started to look around the clearing, hoping to find something. After a while, Dreambert noticed a few white flowers in a certain area to be arranged as an "L". Once he inspected the location closer, he saw a piece of a rune hidden inside the grass.

"Guys! I´ve found a piece here," he told the others, and brought it next to the two runes.

A few seconds later, Luigi saw something on a tree at the edge of the clearing. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a symbol of a Pi'illo. The plumber looked around the tree, and found a second piece. He picked it up and told his friends that he had found another piece.

Starlow on the other hand took a closer look at the ring of stones on the ground. The stones seemed to look roughly the same at first, but once she took a closer look, she could see that one of the stones was formed like a Star Sprite. Using her ability of Levitation, she tried to move that stone away. After a few moments, she managed to lift it up and put it aside. She saw the third piece on the ground where the stone had been, and levitated it over to the other ones.

"So…now we have to figure out which one to use," Dreambert said after they looked at the pieces. They looked identical, which meant that they would have to figure out what Nico tried to say with his hint.

"So…he said that the one most meaningful to him had the right piece, correct?" Luigi asked the other ones.

"Right. I think I know the solution, then," Starlow replied after she thought about it for a few seconds.

"What would that be?" Dreambert wanted to know.

"I think that it is me. Given by the amount of support I had given him after our adventures and how close I was to him between them, I think it´s safe to say that we had built some sort a special connection between us," Starlow spoke her thoughts out.

"Hm…I think that´d make sense. Let´s try it, then," Dreambert replied, and they put the piece Starlow had found into the rune. The rune started to glow, and kept glowing after that. It was ready to be used.

"I guess that we´ll have to leave someone behind again," Starlow assumed once she realised that the barrier wasn´t deactivated yet.

"I´d say that we should leave Luigi here. Together, we will be able to use our Love Magic against any possible foe," Dreambert suggested.

"Are you sure that you´ll be alright?" Luigi asked them, concerned that something bad could happen to them.

"We´ll be fine. You should be careful to not die of boredom while we´re gone," Starlow replied with a smirk.

"Funny, really funny. Alright then, I guess…" Luigi sighed, and stood onto the rune. The barrier blocking the path disappeared, while a new barrier appeared around the rune Luigi was standing on.

"Don´t worry, we´ll meet again soon, I´m pretty sure about that," Starlow assured the plumber, before she and Dreambert advanced deeper into the forest.

* * *

They were going to go past the final barrier, Nico was now certain of it. It was strange, looking into a future living outside of Somnom Woods again. The human made his way toward the area he had built his shelter in, so he could wait for her. He had predicted everything correctly up until now, all he had to do was to play and wait.

* * *

 _If my prediction is correct, then you should be the remaining two searching for me, Starlow and Dreambert. One year is a long time, though I feel like nothing has changed much. It´s a special sort of friendship that connects you four, isn´t it? That makes the final task all the more fitting…connect four, and you may proceed. Place Love Spheres, I will do it remotely using the runes…_

These were the words written above a rune in front of a big, ancient structure with several big holes in it. The holes were arranged in six rows and seven columns. Starlow assumed that they had to play and win "Connect Four" in order to find Nico. Behind the structure was yet another barrier, with a rune in front of it which wasn´t active.

"So we´re up to a challenge, aren´t we?" Dreambert asked.

"I´ve never backed down because of a simple challenge. Let´s do it, so we can bring him back," Starlow replied.

Starlow and Dreambert started by placing a sphere in the bottom right. A few moments later, a blue sphere appeared above theirs. The couple proceeded by putting the next sphere on the left of their first one, which was answered by a blue one being put to the left of it.

"He´s trying to deny us, but I think I can outsmart him," Starlow mumbled, and she and Dreambert placed another sphere in the sixth column.

Nico followed by placing his sphere above the recently placed one, so the couple placed theirs in the fifth column. Nico placed his sphere above that one, so Starlow placed their next sphere in the fourth column. She already had a plan, and hoped that it would work out.

Nico´s next sphere appeared in the seventh column, which Starlow used to place a new one in the third column. Nico cut a possible opportunity off by placing his next sphere above that sphere, so Starlow placed the next one in the second column, creating three in a row.

Nico quickly denied them their victory by placing his sphere in the first column. Starlow, seeing a possible opportunity for him to win in a few turns, placed another sphere in the second column. Now that they had two on top of each other, Nico blocked that opportunity with a sphere on his own on them.

"This is the critical point. If he doesn´t see my trap, we have won," Starlow told Dreambert, and they placed a sphere in the third column.

After a few seconds, a blue sphere appeared in the first column. Starlow started to smile, because the game now was theirs. She placed another sphere in the third column. She was now able to shut any attempt of Nico to win down, and because of the order of their turns, he would ultimately have to place a sphere in the fourth column.

The human realised this as he looked at the runes in front of him. He had walked right into her trap; there was no way for him to win. He carefully looked at the board again, and finally gave in. He deactivated the puzzle and activated the rune for the barrier.

 _You have done well to make it here. Only one of you may speak with me, though. Make your choice; there are no threats inside of this barrier. Don´t keep me waiting._

"Do you want to go?" Dreambert asked Starlow after the spheres on the board disappeared and the rune for the barrier projected these words.

"I think that it´d be for the best that way. I hope that he´s still alright," Starlow agreed, a bit worried about their friend.

"Even if he isn´t, you could get him back on track. Now go and bring him back, I´ll be waiting here," Dreambert replied and gave her a hug, before hovering onto the rune.

The barrier vanished, while a new one appeared around Dreambert. He gave Starlow a confident smile, at which she nodded and proceeded. She followed the path that led her through the forest, and entered a clearing after a few minutes.

What she could see was a makeshift home, a small hut at the edge of the clearing. It was made of logs and had leaves as a roof. Other than that, she spotted runes assembled the same way the Connect Four board was. The door of the hut was open, only its owner was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey."

The voice came from right behind her, so she whirled around. What Starlow saw was a familiar person: Nico. He stood in front of her with a small smile. None of them moved at first, though his emotions seemed to overwhelm him after a few seconds. All of a sudden, he was hugging her, crying in happiness.

"I´m so glad that you´re finally here," he managed to bring out.

The Star Sprite could feel that the months hadn´t been devastating for the human, though she didn´t know about Light and Dark Nico. Nico himself seemed to be more than alright. She eventually hugged him back, happy to see him being more or less the same.

"Good to see you again," Starlow said to him.

"After all this time, I get to see someone else than myself…come, let´s go inside," the human replied, and led her to his house.

Inside, Starlow saw that Nico had made himself a nice little home. In the center of it stood a fireplace, while in one of the corners stood a bed made of leaves. In the opposite corner seemed to be a makeshift kitchen, with several tools and a set of spoons, forks and knifes. Next to the fireplace stood a table with a chair, on the table lied what appeared to be Nico´s personal calendar.

"Take a seat…or rather, take the seat," Nico offered her, so she hovered over to the chair and sat down on it.

The human walked over to the kitchen, and removed a plug on the wall of the sink. Water started to pour out of the hole, and he held a wooden cup under it. Once it was full, he plugged the hole again, and brought her the cup.

"I assume that you´re thirsty. It´s out of a spring near here, I´ve managed to connect it to my little home here," he told her while placing the cup on the table. The Star Sprite levitated to cup towards her, and she drank the cold water.

"Thanks. So…how have you been?" she asked him after she had finished drinking.

"I´ve been alone out here, but looking forward to meeting you again kept me sane. I had explored this forest, and it is beautiful. I don´t think that this is a bad place to live in, but I want to be with you guys again," Nico replied.

"I guess it is time to say 'goodbye' to this place, then. The others are waiting," she informed him.

"Of course…let me grab a few things, then we can go," he replied, and grabbed a backpack that was lying on his bed. He put a few runes into it, as well as his calendar. He then put it on his back and walked to the door.

"You know…I´ll miss this place. Perhaps I´ll get to return here at some point. Come now, it´d be rude to keep the others waiting," he told her.

Starlow got up from the chair, and they left the house. They then set off into the direction where she had come from, looking forward to meeting their friends again.

* * *

 **And so, after one long year, it seems like Nico can be reunited with his friends. Unfortunately, there is someone out there who is going to make this a short happy moment…come on, Nicbot, it´s your time to shine! What will happen next? What is Nicbot going to get in Nico´s old house, and what are his plans? Find out…soon, I guess.**

 **So…yeah, as I´ve told you: finals are on the way. Took me quite some time to write this (I´ve used Excel to plan the "Connect Four" duel…talking about being creative when it comes to writing), but I hope that once my finals are over, I can proceed with writing more.**

 **Until then, you´ll most likely have to wait, while I write those and celebrate my birthday at some point (yep, I´ve been active on here for over a year now, almost impossible to believe for me). When´s that? Somewhere in the middle of April, that´s all you´re going to get.**

 **Of course, how could I ever forget: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	2. Reunion

**Never thought that I´d write this anytime soon…I´ve gone through my finals and have been distracted by other things in my life as well, but I´ll try and get back to writing this again.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _There it is…Mushroom Kingdom. I´ll have to lay low until it´s dark, this whole thing will be gone out of the window if I am noticed too early…_

* * *

Deep inside Somnom Woods, two people were following a path leading out of the forest. Nico had remained silent since they left the house he had lived in, and Starlow knew that forcing him into a conversation could have a negative outcome.

With that knowledge in mind, they both didn´t say a word and kept on going. Starlow, used to being chatty at times, instead got to admire the beautiful nature of this area of Pi'illo Island. Nico on the other hand seemed to be happy as well, as if meeting her and walking through the forest filled him with new energy.

It didn´t take the two of them long to reach the area Dreambert was in, still held captive on the rune. He was seemingly growing impatient, but as they stepped into sight, his expression quickly lightened up. He glanced at Nico for a moment before looking at Starlow and gave her a questioning look, eager to know about their friend´s current state. Once she saw his look, she gave him a nod and continued with smiling, confirming that Nico´s mental state seemed to be stable.

"It´s good to see you again, Nico. I guess you know the way to deactivate this rune again?" the Pi'illo greeted the human.

"Hello Dreambert, we finally meet again. Don´t worry, I have the runes to deactivate the barrier ones with me," he replied, and kneeled down to open up his backpack.

He took one rune out and used a light blue sphere on it, connecting his will to the rune. He then commanded the rune to deactivate the rune it was connected to, freeing Dreambert from his imprisonment. The Pi'illo hovered away from the rune in order to hug Starlow, and then proceeded with shaking Nico´s hand.

"We should proceed. As much as I like this forest, we shouldn´t keep the Mario Bros. waiting. Besides, the sun is going to set quite soon, and I don´t want to be around here in darkness," Nico then said, and started walking again.

"Are you sure that he´s alright?" Dreambert asked Starlow as they didn´t move at first.

"I think he is. I don´t know what Light and Dark Nico are up to, but it appears that they are in balance for the time being. Nico himself is most likely thinking about his future with us, so we should just let him be," she replied, and followed the human.

"Then why do I have the feeling that this balance isn´t going to last long…" the Pi'illo mumbled, and made haste to catch up to the two.

* * *

Somewhere else, it was already getting dark. A figure snuck from one cover to the next, trying to stay out of the view of the Toads that lived in Toad Town. It took him some time, but he eventually reached the blue house he was looking for.

He put his hand onto a console next to the door and connected with it, the security system deactivating and the door unlocking at his command. He stepped into the house and closed the door again, only to disappear into the basement of the house, where Nicbot intended to find the tools he needed for his plan.

* * *

"If it isn´t Nico," Luigi said once he spotted the trio walking towards him.

"Hey there, Luigi. Anything special happened in Mushroom Kingdom while I was gone?" the human replied with a smile.

"Well, Bowser captured the princess a few times…" the plumber began.

"I said 'special'," Nico cut him off and chuckled, with the others laughing for a bit.

Nico took a rune out of his backpack and freed the plumber in green, after which he jumped off the rune and shook hands with Nico. The teenager then started walking again, which left Luigi confused.

"Is he alright?" he asked the other two.

"I believe he is, he just wants to be out of this forest before the sun sets," Starlow explained.

"Me too, to be honest," Luigi replied and shivered a bit, before following their friend.

"He´ll never change, I guess. Not that it´s bad," Starlow said amused, and she and Dreambert followed the two.

The four of them wandered in silence, following Nico to the location where they had left Mario behind long ago. It was getting darker in the forest, given that the leaves already darkened the area during sunshine, and everyone had trouble keeping up with Nico´s tempo. Starlow used her star to lighten up the immediate area around them, though she wondered how their friend managed to keep up his speed without seeing much in front of him and not colliding with a tree.

After some time, they finally arrived at the final rune where Mario was, only that the red plumber was fast asleep. Nico turned around to the others.

"Well…any ideas on how to wake him up?" he asked them.

"We could either say something about food, or something that makes him angry," Luigi told everyone.

"I´m more in the mood to anger someone…I think I already know what to say," Nico replied after he thought for a bit, and then whispered it to the others.

After that, Nico took out a rune from his backpack and deactivated the rune Mario was sleeping on. Everyone then gathered around him, already eager to see Mario´s reaction. Nico counted down with his fingers, and everybody simultaneously spoke up close to him.

"Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!"

The plumber in red instantly shot up and jumped off the ground, looking really annoyed.

"Not AGAIN! How many castles have I to go through THIS TIME?" he shouted in anger, but then realized who was surrounding him. Everyone burst out in laughter, while Mario´s face turned the same colour as his hat.

"Don´t worry. This time, the princess is in the castle she should be in," Nico said while laughing.

"I´ll pay you guys back one day, I swear…" Mario replied, and fixed his cap which didn´t sit right due to his sudden movements.

"You may try, but your success won´t be guaranteed," Nico told him while patting the plumber´s back, and continued. "Now that we have everyone here, we can finally leave the forest. Follow me, I know a shortcut."

He then made his way through the small passage, the other ones following him. Nico didn´t lead them to the tree they had climbed down earlier this day, but a different one instead. The human started climbing, and while climbing the other ones noticed that the new path seemed to be located above the one they had followed.

Jumping along the path, it didn´t take them long to reach the end and climb down again. Mario and Co. found themselves next to the path before the crossing, the Pi'illo Temple in sight. Nico lead them to the temple and then the Warp-Pipe, which they gathered around.

"Well then…are we ready?" the human asked the others. Starlow noticed that there was uneasiness in his voice, and he was shaking almost unnoticeably.

"Only if you are," she replied with a calming smile. He sighed.

"Alright…I am," he said after a few seconds, and jumped onto the pipe. The other ones followed him, and the five warped back into Pi'illo Castle.

* * *

The only thing disturbing the silence of the night was the sound of thrusters above the ocean between Mushroom Kingdom and Pi'illo Island. He had gotten everything he needed, the gun and the cylinders, as well as the blade. They were safely stored away, since he was going to need them once he returned to Pi'illo Island in order to give his creator control over the human. And then, Nicbot would be able to execute his plan…

* * *

The group arrived in Pi'illo Castle, which was quite empty now that it was in the evening. Everyone agreed on making Nico´s return public the next day, so the human made his way to the room he had lived in before the events from one year ago happened.

"What do you think will the rest of the population think? He didn´t really become their favourite back then…" Starlow asked Dreambert.

"They´ll just have to trust my decision in that case. They must know that we see him as our friend," the Pi'illo responded.

"If we manage to persuade the citizens, there shouldn´t be any more problems afterwards. Light Nico should be able to balance out Dark Nico, so he won´t be able to do much…" Mario added.

"We should go to sleep then, it´s getting late and we have stuff to do tomorrow," Luigi said, and everyone walked to their rooms.

* * *

Night. Only the moon lighting the surroundings for a bit. Perfect.

A figure snuck from cover to cover, looking for a way to enter the castle unnoticed. He made sure to stay out of sight of the guards, and eventually found a window that he was able to jump at, since his thrusters were out of fuel due to the damage he had taken in his last fight, disrupting the process for recycling and reusing the supplies he burned.

He jumped towards the window and managed to grab hold onto the bottom edge. He pulled himself up and entered the castle. The figure then snuck through the castle, looking for a spot where he would be able to stay hidden and take action quickly if required. And once he entered the Throne Room, Nicbot found it. He leapt up to the chandelier using various objects on and near the wall. It was high enough for him to stay unnoticed, so he decided to wait. At some point, they had to find Nico, and then he would reveal himself.

* * *

The following morning, Starlow and Dreambert stood up early in order to prepare their announcement about Nico´s return. They made their way to the castle´s Dinner, where Jack was already waiting for people to come by.

"Your majesties! Up early I see," the Pi'illo behind the counter greeted them in his friendly manner. He and Starlow had become good friends over the past months.

"Good morning, Jack. We´ll have the usual, we´ve got a big announcement to make today," the Star Sprite responded.

"Coming right up," Jack replied and hovered into the kitchen, and came back a few seconds later. "It´ll be ready soon. May I ask what that announcement is about?"

"Well…" Dreambert began, and leaned in closer to the Pi'illo, "we have managed to find and bring back Nico."

Jack darted back, clearly surprised and confused at the same time.

"Nico? Wasn´t he responsible for all the trouble on your wedding?" he asked them with an expression which seemed to ask them if they had lost their sanity.

"He wasn´t himself that day…and he had a troublesome past. But now we should welcome him back after he had exiled himself," Starlow said cheerfully.

"Well…I´ll trust you on that one in that case. Enjoy your breakfast," Jack said after a while and handed them their food which a cook had brought to the counter.

"Thanks," the two of them replied, and sat down at a table.

"Do you think this will go well?" Dreambert asked Starlow.

"I´m not certain, but I do have hope that it will turn out good this time. The worst thing that could happen now would be an attempt from Dark Nico to take over, but he won´t be able to do so," she responded.

"Although…I have a feeling…as if something evil is lurking right around the corner. It´s not often that I feel like this, but when I do, something bad happens…" she continued after a short break.

"I guess we should be on the lookout then," Dreambert replied, slightly worried. What could possibly happen, now that everything seemed to be restored to normal?

"Let´s just get the other three. We´ll see if you are right or not," he said after they both sat there in silence for a while.

"Agreed," the Star Sprite replied, and they both left.

They passed through the Throne Room again, much to Nicbot´s entertainment. Thanks to his sensitive sensors, he had picked up their conversation. How funny it was, that the evil she had felt was right above them, waiting for them to come back.

Starlow and Dreambert arrived at the Guest Rooms. Dreambert went to go get Mario and Luigi, while Starlow made her way to Nico´s room. She knocked at the door.

"Come in, Starlow," the inhabitant of the room answered.

Confused, she opened the door and entered the room, closing the door afterwards again. Nico sat at his desk, reading a book. Once she closed the door, the human looked up from the book.

"How did you know that it was me?" she asked, still confused.

"I had a feeling that it was you. Is it time already?" he responded. Starlow could feel something familiar in Nico reasoning with her…Light Nico was trying to convince her of everything being fine. But she also felt something else.

 _Would you stop flirting with her already? I swear, if I am forced to endure her more than you two already are forcing me to, I´ll go on a rampage like you have never seen it before,_ an annoyed voice said inside her head, followed by another voice chuckling.

Starlow knew who that had been…Dark Nico complaining and Light Nico being amused…at least the dark soul seemed to be in a better mood than the other times they had interacted with him.

"You were right, then. Do you want to go?" she replied with a smile.

"Yes…yes. Let´s get this over with," the human said, and stood up. They then both left his room and met up with the remaining three.

"Hello everyone. Are you guys ready?" Starlow greeted them.

"Sure," Mario and Luigi said.

"I am," Dreambert replied.

"I guess I am as well," Nico added.

The five of them made their way into the Throne Room. Just as they were about to reach the second room to the right, where they wanted to prepare themselves, a black ray hit Nico from behind, sending him to the ground, where he winced and twitched in pain while small black bolts were sparking from his body. With a loud _clank_ , something metallic landed behind the group, which stared at Nico in confusion.

"Hello there. It was about time that we met again," a familiar voice behind them said.

* * *

 **Oh. Man. I can´t believe I´ve finally gotten myself to write this. I am VERY sorry for my lack of uploads, but I had my finals going, was still in school, then had to do my oral exam…and I lacked the motivation to write. Also constantly reimagining the later part of the story and shifting it over and over again doesn´t help with writing the BEGINNING…**

 **Again, sorry for the lacking uploads. Maybe I´ll get to write more now that I´m out of school (and by that, I mean: I´ll probably find time to write between 3 am and 7 am, just like I did now)**

 **Okay…Nicbot´s back in action, and he doesn´t give Nico any chance to take a break. With the human being hit by whatever was fired at him (you´ll find out in the next chapter), what is his plan, and can our four heroes fight him in this moment of surprise? Find out…in the next chapter, which will see the light of day at some point, just like this one did…**

 **As always though: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	3. Old Enemy, New Trouble

**So, picking up where I left you guys: Nicbot´s surprise for…well, everyone.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Starlow couldn´t believe that she had just heard that voice, but she remembered it all too well. The group turned around and faced their enemy, and Nicbot started to chuckle. They could see him wielding a ray gun, as well as holding a handle in his other hand.

"Hehe, I guess my surprise really caught every one of you off-guard. Mostly that guy over there," the robot said, and looked at Nico, who was still twitching on the ground.

"What did you shoot him with? And how is it possible that you are active after our last fight and your fall?" Starlow demanded to know. She had an idea on what it was, as she was able to feel a lot of hate inside Nico. And that wasn´t a good sign, as Dark Nico´s power was based on it.

"Well…I present you a tool my master had built before he tried to take over Mushroom Kingdom: a ray gun which shoots rays depending on the cylinder it is loaded with. What it was loaded with was concentrated hate, something my master stored away for cases of emergency," Nicbot explained while holding up the gun.

He then pressed a button on it, causing the black cylinder to be ejected. The robot grabbed it, and a hatch opened in his left arm, which he put the black container into, He then took a blue one out and put it into the gun.

"As for your second question: I am difficult to get rid of, which you should know by now. I don´t intend to bother with you for now, however. I just want to take Nico with me, we´ll be able to discuss the rest later. Any problems with that?" he went on, and activated his blade and aimed his gun at them.

"We might be able to get the hate out of Nico again, but Nicbot has to be taken care of first," Dreambert said to the others.

"Good luck with getting me out of the way. You´ll need it," the robot said, and leapt toward the group.

* * *

 **Boss fight: Nicbot**

Mario and Luigi quickly got their hammers ready, and Nicbot immediately began fighting both plumbers at once after he landed. Moving around and between the two, he was able to focus on one of them while keeping the other one far enough from him to stay safe. By doing so, Starlow and Dreambert weren´t able to land a hit on him without risking hitting their friends.

What they were able to do however was to focus on their other friend for now, as they proceeded to fire a beam of love at Nico. Starlow immediately felt that they would need quite some time in order to get the hate out of the human, as the amount of hate was outstanding.

"Starlow! Watch out!" she suddenly heard Luigi say.

She looked up, and noticed Nicbot jumping towards them just in time to scoot backwards, narrowly avoiding being hit by a swing of his blade. As the robot tried to shoot her with the ray gun he wielded, she and Dreambert created a shield in front of her, blocking the rays. Mario and Luigi closed in on the robot, but he simply rolled backwards between them, after which he stood up and faced the group again.

"Seems like you´ve learned something new while I was out. Will it be enough to keep up with me, though?" the robot said out loud, and reengaged the group.

While he ran towards them, he swapped the blue cylinder for a red one, and fired shots at Starlow and Dreambert. They put their shield up again, but as the rays kept coming, they felt that they were getting exhausted of keeping the protection stable.

Nicbot would have gotten them to put away the shield entirely, but it was then that Mario ran forward and swung his hammer at the robot, prompting him to put his blade up in order to block the strike. The robot defended himself against the attack, but Luigi was already near him as well, and the plumbers slowly pushed him back with a series of blows.

Starlow and Dreambert used this time to catch their breath again, and then focused on their other friend. Firing their love at him, they stopped the hate from taking him over for now, but getting it out of him was a completely different task, for which they needed to keep their "therapy" up for quite a long time. Which they didn´t get.

Most likely because Nicbot had thrown his gun into the air, and then managed to grab hold onto Luigi´s hammer, which he then threw at Starlow…with Luigi still holding onto it. After the robot had grabbed the gun again, he proceeded with firing at Mario, who had no choice but to keep dodging the shots until he had an opportunity to fight back.

Luigi on the other hand was flying towards the occupied Star Sprite together with his hammer, which she noticed. The moment she was hit, that is. The two landed on the ground, and Nicbot used this time to run over to Nico, who was still lying on the ground with hate flowing through him. The robot put his gun into the hatch on his arm, and grabbed the human before trying to make his escape. He didn´t get far though, because Mario blocked the exit, his hammer ready.

"End of the line, piece of scrap," the plumber said, notably angry at the robot by now.

"Who is going to stop me, an overweight plumber? Get out of the way, fool!" Nicbot replied, and delivered a serious of strong blows, which Mario managed to block off.

Meanwhile, Dreambert was checking on the other two. They slowly got off the ground again, but quickly noticed that Nico wasn´t there anymore. Looking around, they could only watch as Mario blocked an attack from Nicbot, but as he did so, the robot kicked him into his stomach, prompting him to bend over, so Nicbot quickly kicked him again, this time with more force, causing the plumber to fly back a distance. Nicbot on the other hand ran out of the room, with his creator hanging over his shoulder.

* * *

"He has Nico? Guys, we need to stop him, there is still so much hate inside of him. If we don´t do anything, Dark Nico will become way too powerful for Light Nico to hold him back," Starlow yelled at the others, and the three quickly pursued their foe, leaving Mario to recover from the kicks the robot had given him. As they left the castle, they could see Nicbot running in the distance, making his way to the airport.

"We can´t let him leave this island, or else he could go anywhere!" Dreambert said, and everyone gave chase.

As they arrived at the airport, they saw Nicbot setting up the Zeeppelin in order to get away from his enemies, with Nico lying on the blimp. The three made their way closer to them, but Nicbot saw them and delivered an angry kick to the engine, which finally started it.

As the trio arrived at the scene, the Zeeppelin took off, and they couldn´t do anything but watch as the blimp flew away, with Nicbot waving at them.

"Bye for now, losers! We´ll see each other again, that´s a promise. And then, I will laugh at the downfall of not only you, but the entire world! HAHAHAHA!" the robot taunted them, and kept laughing until the blimp was too far away for them to hear him.

Looking around, they saw the chaos Nicbot had managed to produce during the short time of his presence. Every other blimp was inoperable, as he had shot the balloons. Citizens and Tourists alike were either unconscious or hiding away in fear.

"I can´t believe it…" Luigi mumbled, at a loss of other words.

"Nico is just bound to be haunted by his creations, or at least it seems like it," Dreambert added.

"Poor boy…he doesn´t get a break, and now the world is in danger again. And we don´t even know where to look for them, either," Starlow sighed with sadness.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pi'illo Island was going out of sight, letting Nicbot relax and calmly plan his next steps. He walked over to Nico, who was still trying to resist the hate, but his attempts had gotten weaker. Nicbot knew that it wouldn´t take much longer for the human to finally give in.

"That´s right, stop resisting, it´ll only make it more painful for you if you try to hold it back. Let it consume you…think about all the wrongs that have been done to you. You hate it, don´t you?" Nicbot said to the human, who slowly seemed to submit to the flow of the hate.

"Guys…I´m sorry….can´t resist anymore…I´m…back…at…it…" Nico mumbled, before other thoughts crossed his mind. Thoughts of revenge. Thoughts of world domination. Formed by his hate.

* * *

 **Holy hell, I never thought that I´d ever bring myself to actually finish this chapter. Okay, what´s been going on…university by now, lack of motivation/ideas, and other things that I won´t specify. So, sorry again for the lack of uploads, I´ll try to write again during my free time.**

 **Looks like a successful Hit n´ Run act performed by our favourite robot, and now our heroes need to figure out how to stop not only Nicbot, but Dark Nico as well again. What do they have in store for everyone this time? Surprises nobody sees coming, that I can tell you.**

 **Alright, time to get back to life again. Hope you still enjoyed this chapter, even though I shortened it (because I ran out of ideas on how to keep the fight going with Nicbot´s limited options).**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter…it will come eventually…hopefully this year…**


	4. The Winged Troublemaker

**Indeed, the next chapter has arrived, and with it the attempts of our heroes to try and locate Nico and Nicbot. We all know which time of the year it is, and yes, I hope you had a pleasant year…I know that I didn´t write much at all this year, but I was both busy and uninspired. Let´s end this year for now and look forward to the next one, shall we?**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"No…you have to resist it…"

"Please…we were getting along…"

"I don´t want this to repeat itself…"

"Please…"

"…"

* * *

"There you are. It´s been a pretty boring year without me, huh?"

"It was calm, to say the least. I didn´t even think of a new plan to take over the world this time…"

"Don´t worry, your favourite robot has designed something that nobody will see coming. With this plan, and the combined power of everyone, these pesky heroes won´t be able to stop us this time!"

"Huh, I can´t wait to listen to your plan."

"I know, but first off we´ll need a place to both hide and prepare ourselves."

"Hm…I think I know something in that regard."

* * *

Back at Pi'illo Island, Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert had a hard time calming the people at the scene down. After several minutes, the Pi'illo had managed to gain the attention of the biggest part of present people.

"Everyone, please calm down, the events that just occurred are now over. We will take care of this situation ourselves, there is no need to be afraid anymore," he explained to the mass that gathered in front of them.

"What happened?"

"Who was that and what do they want?"

"I remember the person they carried with them. We demand answers!"

Starlow could see that Dreambert didn´t quite know what to say, so she thought about what she could tell those people instead.

"It is true, that person who was carried away was Nico. A creation that he made in the past has malfunctioned, and taken him with it. We have already been able to deal with such problems, and we promise that we will do so again," she eventually said, effectively calming the crowd down.

"Well spoken, Starlow. Now, if you would excuse us, we need to take appropriate actions. I shall put Eldream in charge during our absence," Dreambert added once he saw that the people were satisfied with Starlow´s answer. The group then made their way back to the castle, where they were hoping to come up with a solution to their newest old problem.

"There has to be a way for us to locate the two of them, right?" Luigi asked the other two as they hurried towards the castle.

"It should be fairly simple, to be honest. We´ll just ask other kingdoms if they spot the blimp they´re flying in. It can´t be that hard to see that thing, you know," Starlow replied, already a step ahead of everyone.

"Hm, sounds good. Without intel from anyone, we could be searching for all eternity," Dreambert agreed.

The group finally reached the castle, where Mario was just walking into their direction. It seemed as if he had recovered from the last hits he had taken.

"Seems as if you´re better again, bro," Luigi said as they reached him.

"It´s good enough to allow me to fight again. Let me guess: he got away?" the red plumber replied.

"Sadly, he did, and he took down every other blimp, so we´re stuck here for the time being. We are going to contact other kingdoms, they must be going SOMEWHERE. Anyone will have to spot that blimp, and then we can pursue that old piece of junk again," Starlow sighed, very annoyed again. Whenever they had to deal with Nicbot, he caused more trouble each time they met him. What would happen this time? Starlow couldn´t imagine it.

"I see…well then, you do that. Luigi and I will help with rebuilding and repairing what Nicbot has destroyed," Mario said, and the two plumbers set off to the airport.

Hours passed, but making the blimps operable again took its time. The structural damages caused by the rampaging robot were fixed by now, but they were still working on repairing the blimps. Not that they had to hurry much, because Starlow and Dreambert hadn´t received any information regarding Nico and Nicbot´s current location yet.

"He has got to be somewhere…I just know it," Starlow mumbled in frustration.

"There´s nothing we can do but to wait, I´m afraid…let´s go outside, I need some fresh air," Dreambert replied, and went to leave the castle. Starlow, at a lack of alternatives, followed him.

They soon arrived at the airport, where everyone was working on the blimps. They could see that one of them was nearly operable again, much to their relief. That meant that they were ready to go soon, should they find out where their friend was now.

"Good work on those blimps, everyone. You should take a break, you have earned it," Dreambert said to the working Pi'illos, after which they put down their equipment and headed off, eager to get some rest.

"We´re almost done with this one. I´d say that we only need another hour or two, then we can head out if we wanted to," Luigi updated them.

"Good to hear…but say, where is that sound coming from?" Starlow replied, after hearing a strange sound. It sounded like a burning fuse.

"Strange…I hear it, too. It sounds as if it was coming from the blimp," Dreambert replied as he listened carefully.

Everyone looked at the blimp, when suddenly, the balloon partially exploded. Shocked as to what had just happened, they suddenly heard a _clank_ behind them, followed by the sound of a burning fuse again. They looked behind them, and saw a lit Bob-omb sitting on the floor next to them. After recovering from the shock, they immediately hustled away from the explosive, which went off a few seconds later.

"How did that get there?" Luigi asked, completely baffled.

"Haha! You should have seen your faces, they were priceless," the heard someone above them laugh.

Looking into the direction where they had come from, they spotted a Parakoopa flying above them. He spun around while descending towards the ground, so they spotted a yellow ring on his black shell. Black Parakoopas were extremely rare, and this one seemed to be quite the special one, too. He also seemed to wear racing goggles, so Starlow assumed that he liked to race against others.

* * *

 **Mini-boss: Tsavo**

"Wha-…Who are you, and why in the world did you just do that?" and infuriated Star Sprite demanded to know. The Parakoopa grinned, and then quickly circled above the group, dropping two live Bob-ombs while doing so.

"Tsavo´s the name; mischief´s my game," he sang while dropping his "presents", prompting the other ones to run from the falling objects.

"Would you stop doing that already, or do we have to beat you up?" Dreambert shouted at him, as the Bob-ombs exploded. Quicker than they expected, Tsavo swept down and grabbed Mario and Luigi´s caps before flying into the air again.

"Where´d be the fun in that?" he innocently asked. He then put on Mario´s cap. "Look at me, its-a me, an overweight plumber who needs to rescue his girlfriend every other day because I can´t protect her properly," he said while imitating Mario´s voice.

He then put on Luigi´s cap. "Oh no, its-a me, his brother who is scared of everything, inanimate or not. I´m glad that my brother is there to look for monsters under my bed every time before I go to sleep," he said while imitating Luigi´s voice, after which he had to laugh so much that he accidentally performed a backflip in the air.

He was the only one who thought of that as being funny though, because Mario and Luigi´s faces were at least as red as the red plumber´s cap now. Mario took out two Fire Flowers, and gave the second one to his brother. They both transformed into their respective fire-forms.

"That´s it, have some of this!" Luigi shouted, and they both started throwing fireballs at the Parakoopa, who was now on high alert.

"Geez, tough crowd I´ve got here," Tsavo said while effortlessly dodging the projectiles being thrown at him, thanks to his abnormal high speed. He then dove towards the plumbers and, as he passed them, put their caps onto their faces, blinding them. He then threw another Bob-omb next to them, but before it could go off, Starlow and Dreambert encapsulated it in a barrier of love, making it´s explosion useless.

"You are getting on my nerves as well, so shut up and take this!" Starlow said angrily, and she and Dreambert created several Love Spheres which they sent towards the Parakoopa. He in return quickly flew towards them, dodging the spheres, and grabbed Starlow before racing to the water. He then dove down and threw her into the cold liquid, ascending again while chuckling afterwards.

"You´re pretty hot-headed, aren´t you? Perhaps that´ll help you chill a bit," Tsavo said and almost lost himself while laughing again.

Starlow rose again from the water, now clearly angry. She and Dreambert prepared another set of spheres, and the Mario Bro., having put their caps onto their heads again, got ready to throw another row of fireballs.

"Now, now. We can´t have that. Don´t worry, we´ll see each other again. I´m not done toying around with you at all," Tsavo calmly said to them, and then raced off at near unbeatable speed.

* * *

"Wh-What was that all about?" Dreambert asked, completely confused.

"I have no idea, but just look at all the damage he has inflicted," Starlow replied, and pointed at the blimp that had almost been fixed again. The balloon was completely unusable again, as the Bob-omb had blown a huge hole into it.

"That´s a setback of HOURS. I swear, if I ever see that…how did he call himself again?" Mario furiously said.

"Tsavo, I believe," Starlow replied after she thought about it.

"Right. If I ever meet this Tsavo guy again, I am going to take his goggles and -" the red plumber started.

"We get it, but there´s no point in angering right now. We need to get those blimps working again as soon as possible," Dreambert interrupted him.

They spent the rest of the day with fixing the blimps again, after they had explained what had happened to the workers. They didn´t manage to fix them entirely, so they had to continue doing so on the next day as well. Starlow and Dreambert were waiting for new information regarding Nico and Nicbot, but nobody seemed to have seen them. During daytime, however, they finally received a message from the Beanbean Kingdom.

 _Your highness King Dreambert, as to answer your request, we are happy to deliver you the following news: the blimp in question has been spotted flying above our kingdom. Such information is best to be delivered personally, so we invite you to our kingdom in order to give you more details, as well as to allow you to deal with your problem on your own. Yours faithfully, Queen Bean._

"Beanbean Kingdom? Can´t say that I know much about it…" Dreambert admitted after reading the letter.

"If I recall correctly, Mario and Luigi have been there already on an adventure. It´s the country where one of the evil masterminds that tried to conquer Mushroom Kingdom came from, after they had defeated his boss then, an evil witch called Cackletta, for good. Fawful was his name, though I´m glad that we have managed to deal with that guy, so he isn´t a problem anymore, either," Starlow explained to him.

"In that case, we should show this letter to the brothers. They should be able to tell us more, then," he said after listening to her.

"I agree. The blimps should be up and working by now as well, unless they had trouble with that Tsavo again," Starlow replied.

They hurried towards the airport, where the repairs of the blimps were coming to a close. As the pair arrived, the last of the blimps started hovering above the ground, making all of the present workers cheer. Starlow and Dreambert made their way to Mario and Luigi, who were standing in the crowd.

"We have found him," they both said after gaining the plumbers´ attention.

* * *

 **Oh boy, this came out sooner than I expected. What? I was expecting this to launch in January at best…**

 **So, what do we have here? A new appearance of a character named Tsavo, huh? I wonder where that did come from…of course I don´t, I implemented him, duh. Why did I put him in there? A suggestion by a very good friend of mine, and just like the character, he likes to cause mischief if he can. Don´t worry, if you like him: he´ll make his return a few times in this story.**

 **Now then, our group has managed to locate Nico, who appears to be in Beanbean Kingdom now. Just what are he and Nicbot doing there? We shall find out soon(-ish).**

 **Now then, this year´s coming to a close. I hope you had a great time in 2018. Now then, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	5. To The Next Kingdom!

**Well well well, looks like someone decided to pick this story up again. I apologize for taking so long, but I had…struggles. But now I´ll try to get this going…no promises.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Beanbean Kingdom? I wonder what they want to do there…" Luigi mumbled once they were back in the castle, where they planned on preparing themselves for their departure.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me about that Kingdom and how you know about it? I´m afraid that I haven´t really heard anything about it yet," Dreambert asked the two plumbers.

"Of course. You see, some of the tourists here came from the Beanbean Kingdom. They look like they have beans as heads, hence the name. Luigi and I went on our first major adventure together to that kingdom, because an evil witch called Cackletta stole Princess Peach´s voice for her own evil intentions. At least that was what everyone thought, but the princess was informed of that plan and instead used a decoy…" Mario started to retell their first adventure.

"Starlow also mentioned a…Fawful I think it was. She said that you had to deal with him back when the three of you had your first adventure together," Dreambert said.

"Indeed. He was Cackletta´s most loyal minion, and also a crafty little bugger. He invented a lot of technological toys for him and his mistress. He survived the adventure we had, unlike the one he was working for. We put her down once and for all, but Fawful rested in silence, plotting to take over the world and getting revenge on us for the death of Cackletta. He had almost managed to engulf the world in darkness, but we had, in cooperation with Bowser, though unknown by him until the very end, managed to defeat Fawful and put his craziness to an end as well," Mario concluded what they had gone through.

"I see. And they both came from that kingdom, I guess. So…how are the royalties in that kingdom? Are they as nice to get along with as Princess Peach?" the Pi'illo wanted to know.

Luigi thought back, and immediately wanted to confirm that. But then Peasley crossed his mind.

"Well…the queen is a nice person, I´m sure that you´ll get along. As for the prince…well, he is…pretty hot-headed, and portrays himself like…you´ll see once we´re there," Luigi answered.

"Oh, right. I forgot about Peasley. That might be interesting to meet him again," Mario sighed in slight annoyance.

"Well, we have no choice but to rely on their help. They are the ones who hold information regarding the whereabouts of Nico and Nicbot. We will inform the Beanbean Kingdom of our intention to visit and deal with them. Let us save Nico and destroy Nicbot for good this time," Starlow said, and everyone agreed.

It didn´t take long before the message was out, so the Mario Bros. and the royal pair prepared themselves for their next adventure. They knew that Nicbot and Dark Nico would always have tricks in their reserve, so they packed a fair amount of items.

Before long, the group was standing on Naptune IV, ready to depart to Beanbean Kingdom. Eldream had been put in charge of the Kingdom for the duration of Dreambert and Starlow´s absence. The group had also sent a message to a friend of theirs in Mushroom Kingdom, inquiring them to meet the group at their destination. Any help they could get was valued, given the enemies that were to face.

The blimp took off, and the inhabitants of the island were waving at the group of heroes while it started flying into the direction of Beanbean Kingdom. The island was soon out of sight, and the only sound that could be heard was that of the blimp´s engine working.

"I wonder what awaits us this time," Luigi sighed after some time, in order to break the silence.

"Your guess is as good as mine, bro. But knowing that pesky robot, we´re probably in for one hell of an adventure again," Mario replied.

"Speaking about Nicbot…I wonder if there is a way to destroy him for good. He somehow always manages to either escape or survive the most fatal damages," Dreambert mumbled.

"That´s a good question, but if I had to bet my coins on something, then it´d be on that Nico can shut him down," Luigi answered after they thought about it.

"If Nico is then still able to do so…" Starlow quietly added. She had been starring into the distance the whole time.

"Huh? What´s bothering you?" Dreambert asked, worried. He hovered over to her and took the Star Sprite into his arms.

"I´m so worried about him…we barely managed to save him from himself after the last adventure. What is it going to be this time? And we don´t even know what they´re up to this time. Can we stop them again, or is the third time the charm for Dark Nico and Nicbot?" she spoke her thoughts out. Ever since she had become friends with the human, she had been concerned about his wellbeing. There weren´t many who had to suffer from their own past as much as Nico did.

"Don´t worry too much, Starlow. No matter what the odds are, the bond of our friendship will always be able to overcome the most evil forces. We have saved the world several times already, we will do it this time, and we will do it in the future as well," Mario spoke up.

"And not only can we save the world like that, but also our friends. This time, we will stop Nicbot once and for all. He is the only thing that keeps haunting Nico, so we will save our friend from his past one final time," Luigi added with enthusiasm.

Starlow lightened up once she saw how dedicated everyone was. _Yes, we only need to get rid of that robot. It is about time that Nico could live a normal life again,_ she thought. "You know what? You´re right. Once we have defeated Nicbot, Nico will finally be able to live in peace," she replied after a moment.

The journey went on, as they had only travelled a portion of the route until now. A ride on a blimp was quite nice, as everyone soon came to realize. Being high up in the skies and enjoying the view wasn´t something you were doing every day. And sometimes, Lakitus or other winged things would fly by.

"Hey…doesn´t that one seem familiar?" Dreambert asked once he saw something fly by. Everyone looked into the same direction, but they only managed to catch a glimpse on it before it was out of sight.

"What was that?" Mario wondered.

"I´m not sure, but I could swear that we have met that one before…" Starlow replied. Meanwhile, the being kept on speeding ahead.

"That´s right, keep on going. I´m going to have a lot of fun with you," he snickered.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in Beanbean Kingdom…**

" _Come on…repel it."_

" _Everything could be fine."_

" _Please…"_

" _It has already taken over…right?"_

"…"

" _I…no, WE will save you."_

* * *

"I´m glad to see that your skills regarding repairing complex machines are still as good as they always were," Nicbot said to Nico. They were in their current hideout, which happened to be Woohoo Hooniversity.

Nico didn´t answer, and instead continued what he was doing. Nicbot was attached to a workbench, allowing Nico to perform repairs that the self-repair-system of the robot couldn´t make. The human operated with the precision of a surgeon, as he didn´t want to cause more damage.

"My, my…you certainly took one heck of a beating…" he mumbled at one point.

"Well, I did my best to stall for as much time as I could, but look at where we are now. You haven´t lost once, but twice to them," the robot reminded him. At that comment, Nico´s hand that didn´t wield a tool clenched into a fist. Nicbot had hit a painful spot with what he said.

"I didn´t ask for you to stall them," Nico replied with a dark expression.

"Oh, have I made the child angry?" the robot snickered. He never got tired of teasing others, even when they were the creator of him. Unfortunately for Nicbot, Nico didn´t take that light-heartedly.

"Would you hold still for a moment? There´s an important region I must check…" the human said, and reached behind the robot´s head. He pressed a few certain spots on the back of the head, as well as the neck, while also loosening a few tiny screws, and opened a small hatch in the back of the head by doing so. Inside, there was a single button, which Nico pressed.

"At least I can work in silence now…" Nico mumbled as the robot was forced to shut down.

 _Hm…is it just me, or does he seem to behave different from last time I worked with him? I don´t even know what his plan for us is…and why do I feel doubts? It´s the right thing to do…I´ll prove everyone that I´m better than what they mocked me as. I´m not a meekly no-good. I´m Nico, one of the mightiest people that have ever set their sights onto domination. Unlike the others…and the last times, I won´t fail. Yes…the world, it is going to be mine. Mario, Luigi, Dreambert…and you too, Starlow. I dare you to cross me again. This time, I will prevail. No matter what._

"Warning: large object closing in on kingdom. Identified as: blimp from Pi'illo Island," a small, round device positioned on the ground next to the human announced. It was a radar, quickly built, to warn of threats coming their way.

"So you are on your way…quicker than I expected. With all that I have yet to do, it´d be best to prepare for a heated confrontation," Nico whispered.

He started to look around in the now abandoned building. It was easy to force everyone out, but it had of course brought attention. So he knew that Starlow and Co. were soon to be here. Salvaging everything that he deemed useful, he made his way back to the workbench and began constructing.

 _An old, but reliable tool. I missed you,_ he thought as he created a familiar object. It had helped him more than once, and it´d do it again.

He continued working, and finished his newest, albeit old, creation. He put it aside for the time being, and began with the construction of something to slow his chasers down before the battle. Lastly, he built something that´d make their escape way quicker and easier, if the need would arrive. Finished with building, he took one of the devices and walked to the blimp waiting outside, partially covered up by leaves and other means of concealment. There, he put the device down and returned to the workbench.

 _Let´s try and fix you up now, eh?_ Nico thought as he looked at the deactivated robot attached to the workbench. He took out his tools and resumed repairing Nicbot to the best of his abilities. While doing so, he had flashbacks of the previous times he tried to conquer the kingdoms…as well as the times between those.

 _There´s no going back now. I´ll shape my destiny with the tools at my disposal. Hate is destructive, yes, but by destroying what´s in your way, you can create a new path._

After quite some time, Nico finished his work. He pressed the small button in the back of the robot´s head again and closed the hatch up again. The robot booted up, and looked around the area at first.

"Now…that wasn´t very nice of you," Nicbot said once he looked over to Nico.

"Neither was it of you. I´ve been busy while you were out, but our enemies should arrive here very soon. I´ve already taken some precautious actions. Most important one will be this little beauty," Nico replied, and placed it where he intended to use it later.

"Oh, I see that you´ve brought something back from earlier," Nicbot noted in surprise once he took a closer look at Nico.

"Yep. Now, let´s prepare. We won´t avoid this fight. I´m just itching for one. Plus, I still don´t know what your plan is," Nico said.

"Don´t worry. Once we´re out of here, I´ll tell you. Hehe…with my weapons back up, I´ll enjoy fighting them," Nicbot answered with excitement.

* * *

 **I COULD tell you "Oh god, I´m so sorry that this is out this late yaddi da", but…I sorta knew that it´d happen. I´ve had a lot of changes in my life, plus a sort of writing blockage. I will have less free time available in the future anyways (I mean…I´m an adult by now, and the world isn´t waiting for you). I´ll still try to finish this story, as I want this trilogy to come to a close. Plus I owe you guys that. Aaaanyway, time to wrap this chapter up…**

 **Our friends are travelling to Nico now, and he and Nicbot seem to be well prepared. Luckily, our heroes can count on assistance from a friend of their own. How will everything play out? That will be seen in the next chapter (finally a real fight again, yay).**

 **Now then: Review if you want to (if anyone still reads this), and stay tuned for the next chapter! (I will try, I promise)**


	6. Arrival in Beanbean Kingdom

**I didn´t realize how much less time I´d have once I become involved into a job…but alas, this is how this world functions. Nowadays, you need to have a job to go places, and that means less free time. I still wish to finish this story, though, so I´ll dedicate some time on my weekends to this.**

 **Right, where were we? Oh, right. Nico and Nicbot were preparing to fight our heroes again. What will happen at Woohoo Hooniversoty?**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The blimp Mario, Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert were standing on slowly lowered its altitude as the airport of Beanbean Kingdom came into sight. While descending towards the ground, the group could see a collection of people waiting near the airfield, waiting for their arrival. Queen Bean was among them, wearing her official clothing as she represented her kingdom.

As soon as the blimp landed on the airfield, a set of stairs was pushed next to it, allowing for an easy unboarding procedure. The group walked towards the welcoming committee, which was walking towards them as well. After a moment, the two groups met.

"King Dreambert, as the representative and ruler of Beanbean Kingdom I, Queen Bean, welcome you and your group to our kingdom," the queen greeted them, and extended her hand to the Pi'illo.

"On behalf of my friends and wife, I thank you for inviting us to your kingdom, Queen Bean. I do believe that we have most urgent topics to discuss," Dreambert replied, and shook her hand.

"Yes, we shall do so at the palace. Ah, and you must be Queen Starlow, I presume," Queen Bean said as she looked at Starlow.

"Indeed. I am pleased to meet you, your highness," she replied with a slightly nervous smile. She was still getting used to be called a queen.

Looking over to Mario and Luigi, the queen happily said "Mario and Luigi, heroes of this land! I am glad to see you here again, even though it may seem like the circumstances may be quite similar to those a few years ago".

"The pleasure is ours, your majesty. Not to worry, the four of us will take care of this problem," Mario replied while taking a bow and taking off his cap.

"Indeed. Has our friend arrived here as well?" Luigi asked as he took a bow as well.

"As far as I know, the person you´re referring to hasn´t arrived here yet. They are underway, however, and should catch up to us soon enough," the queen responded.

"Great. We´ll most likely need their help if we want to defeat those two again. Shall we go to the palace now? We don´t have much time to waste, I´m afraid," Starlow suggested.

"Of course, let us go," Queen Bean agreed. The group made their way to Beanbean Castle, where the group arrived after a few minutes. "Now then, we were able to find out where the people you are looking for hide. They have forced everyone out of Woohoo Hooniversity, and haven´t been reported going out ever since. That should be where they currently are," the queen explained once they were inside the castle.

"Hm…that does make sense, Nicbot didn´t use any of his weapons during our battle. Maybe he is still heavily damaged, and now Nico is repairing him himself," Mario said after he thought about what Queen Bean had said.

"In that case, we should hurry! Maybe we can be there before Nicbot is at his full potential again, because otherwise we´ll have to fight both of them at the same time. And that is something I´m not looking forward to, regarding their power," Starlow told the others. Everyone nodded, and Queen Bean spoke up again. "Mario and Luigi. And you too, Queen Starlow and King Dreambert. Our kingdom is counting on you again. Prince Peasley is currently observing the situation at Woohoo Hooniversity, if you need his help, be sure to call out for him."

"Will do. Come on, everyone! Let´s bring this whole story to a close before it starts to get worse," Dreambert said, and the group stormed out of the castle. Mario led them through the town towards their destination, everyone focused on achieving one goal: to destroy Nicbot and give Nico the peace he deserved. The town seemed to be more populated than last time, probably because the scientists of the Hooniversity were now here as well. It didn´t take long to reach Beanbean Fields and traverse trough them, and Woohoo Hooniversity soon came into sight. They set their feet onto the bridge to the west of the building, when suddenly something passed through between Starlow and Dreambert, hitting both of them and causing them to spin rapidly.

"Tsavo´s the name!" they could hear, before the same thing happened to Mario and Luigi, only that they spun off the bridge into the water. "Mischief´s my game!" they could hear afterwards, and after some time, Starlow could stop spinning, just to face what had hit them: a familiar Parakoopa with racing goggles.

"You again?" she asked angrily. Only too well could she remember the trouble he had caused them on Pi'illo Island.

"Ahaha, that look on your face, I love it! I had so much fun playing with you that I just had to follow you for another round," Tsavo happily told them, before throwing lit bombs towards Starlow and Dreambert.

* * *

 **Mini boss: Tsavo, Fight #2**

"Oh no, we are NOT going to play with you this time," Starlow angrily said, and used her levitation powers to catch two bombs in the air and hurl them back at the Parakoopa. He effortlessly flew away from them, and the explosives detonated in the air in front of him.

"Ah, resistance. That just makes it more fun!" Tsavo replied with a smile, and charged at Starlow and Dreambert. Mario and Luigi in the meantime swam back to land, where they made haste to reach the bridge again. Tsavo started flying in a circle around Starlow and Dreambert, tossing more bombs at them while doing so. After he lit the fuses, he tossed them at different times after doing so, making it harder for the others to dodge the explosives. At one point, he suddenly flew through the two of them and dropped a bomb next to Dreambert, while at the same time picking Starlow up again.

Mario and Luigi arrived at the scene as Starlow was kidnapped by Tsavo, and prepared to fight Tsavo off as well. He threw more bombs at the group while zigzagging across the bridge, and Mario and Luigi were hammering most of them back at him, though he easily dodged the bombs thanks to his high speed. At one point, he threw a bomb together with Starlow at them, but the Mario Bros. failed to notice her flying amidst the projectiles, so they hammered her back at the Parakoopa as well.

"OW! Watch where you swing those things!" she yelled at them, but as she was flying, Tsavo caught her again and continued his bombardment. He suddenly dove down at Mario and took his hammer with one hand, while also throwing Starlow into his face. He then hammered the two of them off the Bridge again, and threw the hammer after them, which landed on Mario´s head.

"Haha, that´s so good! I haven´t had this much fun in a while," Tsavo cheered and performed a backflip in the air. Just that he was so distracted that he didn´t see another hammer flying at him. Luigi had had enough and decided to throw his hammer at the Parakoopa, who got hit by it und tumbled down into the water as well. As Tsavo´s head appeared out of the water again, he could see an angry Mario, as well as Starlow, closing in on him. She and Dreambert prepared a set of Love Spheres to finally deal with him, and Luigi had picked up his hammer again and was ready to beat Tsavo up as well.

"Uh oh, that´s my cue to go…I have, uh, something left in the stove! Yes, surely…I´ll see you again!" the Parakoopa panicky said, and used his wings to quickly jet away from them to the shore, where he pulled himself out of the water, shook himself dry, and then quickly raced off towards the town.

* * *

"Grr…and again he gets away with that," Mario grumbled as he swam back to land as well. Starlow flew onto the bridge to meet up with the other two, who were waiting for them.

"Well, at least we managed to land one hit more on him than last time…" Dreambert sighed. On Pi'illo Island, they hadn´t even been able to hit him.

"The more he shows up to mess with us, the better we´ll get at dealing with him. He´s too confident, that´s his problem. And once we get him, he is in trouble, as he doesn´t seem to be able to fight that good. The only things he does are throwing bombs at us and mess with us with his high speed," Starlow explained, still annoyed at Tsavo for messing with them again.

"Yeah, but we have wasted more than enough time fighting him. Nico and Nicbot are still at the Hooniversity, and I doubt that they just did nothing while we were here," Luigi reminded them. Mario jumped onto the shore again, and waited for them at the end of the bridge that was closer to the Hooniversity.

"Luigi is right, we could have dealt with those two already. Let´s go," Mario agreed. And the group ran towards the building. Once they entered, the were able to hear the echoing footsteps of the brothers. The building seemed to be completely deserted. Mario and Luigi led them to the area they had defeated Cackletta in, since they assumed that that was where Nico and Nicbot were performing their repairs.

The room before them was dark, but they knew that this didn´t have to say anything. They stepped into the room, and Starlow brightened up her star for them to see better. Nothing seemed odd at first, until they saw the four small pillars around them. Before they could react, a force field was projected around them, trapping them. They heard laughter, undeniably it was Nico´s voice. A spotlight went on, shining to the far left of the room, where it revealed Nicbot standing combat ready.

"So the fools have finally arrived," Nicbot said out loud, and started walking towards the centre of the room, the spotlight following him. Once he reached it, a second light went on next to his, and from above descended Nico, something familiar on his back making him able to fly: he had recreated his Jetback, a tool he had used during his first attempt to best Mario and Co.

"Now everything is as it should be again: me and you at full power, and the heroes trapped in front of us," Nico continued. A moment of silence followed, and Nico looked at his robot after a few seconds. "What´s taking so long?" he whispered in an annoyed tone.

"The thrusters don´t work," the robot replied, to which Nico sighed and deactivated his own, taking out tools and starting to work on the boots and back of Nicbot. "Just great, now our performance is ruined…" Nico complained. Starlow and Dreambert wasted no time and fired a Love Beam at the shield, hoping to bring it down quick enough. The shield started growing weaker, something Nico noticed. Frustrated, he took out a hammer and hit the back of Nicbot with full force, as well as the feet of the robot.

"Do you really think that hitting something with that much force out of frustration will…" Nicbot wanted to complain, but his thrusters suddenly began working again, making him hover above the ground. "Oh…nevermind," he apologized, and changed his hands into his weaponry: an energy launcher on his right arm and an energy blade on the left one.

"A somewhat rash, but effective solution. And now, prepare for the moment we have all been waiting for: the clash between the villains and the heroes!" Nico shouted, and activated an energy blade himself; most likely the one Nicbot had had with him, and created four light blue spheres above him. His Jetback started his thrusters, and as he took off the ground, Starlow and Dreambert´s Love Beam shattered the shield trapping them.

* * *

 **And back from the unseen depths of the internet I crawl…presenting you a chapter that took way too long to publish. But now I am here with a somewhat new mind-set and more motivation than I could have ever hoped for. I´ll have to blame Toby Fox and his game Deltarune for that. After playing the game with a good friend of mine (yes, I know that the game is out for a really long time by now), falling in love with Ralsei while doing so (not kidding, I have somewhat of an obsession with Ralsei now), ALSO falling in love with the Krisei shipping, reading fanfiction and looking at artwork…something in me has changed…and it led me to writing fanfiction regarding Ralsei myself.**

 **With how I am currently writing fanfictions, I should be able to post way more frequently now (not only my story here, mind you. There is so much I want to write regarding Deltarune, with my main focus being the fluffy prince of darkness, of course), so you could actually expect me to finish this story this year…this is NO promise, of course, but with how things are currently going, there is a good chance. Alright, it´s time for me to talk about the story again…**

 **Huh, Tsavo makes another appearance and annoys our friends yet again? Surprise, surprise. And now the confrontation between our heroes and Nico and Nicbot is at hand. Let me tell you this: they are more dangerous now than the previous times, because Nico had never been able to fight with as much power as Dark Nico currently has, thanks to the concentrated hate Nicbot had "treated" him with. The previous fights in "A True Nightmare" were all with Dark Nico only being partially fed with the Dark Stone´s energy, until he fused with the Sleep Stone. So, let us see how this confrontation will play out, and what Nicbot´s plan is. He hasn´t revealed it yet…**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter! (It´ll come within the next month, I promise!)**


	7. Hooniversity of Chaos

**Aha, a fight I am really looking forward to writing! Yes, we finally see Nicbot and Nico take our heroes on as a team again. How will the fight play out? Let´s see…ah, right: from now on, there are going to be a lot of fights where there is more than one boss to fight, so I´ll come up with a name for each combination that we´ll see.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Boss battle: The Creator and The Creation (Nico and Nicbot)**

Everything happened at once. Nico commanded his spheres to fly towards the group at different angles, while Nicbot unloaded a barrage of energy missiles at Mario and Luigi. While this happened, the brothers started charging at their foes, jumping over the first few missiles Nicbot shot, and hammering several others back at them. The robot and Nico flew towards the side to dodge the deflected projectiles.

Starlow and Dreambert created four Love Spheres and countered Nico´s magic attack, and proceeded with shooting a Love Beam at Nico. The human on the other hand boosted himself further into the air and let a rain of light blue spheres crash down at the party, prompting Starlow and Dreambert to create a Love Shield above them after scooting over to Mario and Luigi, who had noticed the spheres falling down. Nicbot used this time frame to land on the ground and charge at Mario and Luigi, turning his energy launcher into a blade as well.

Mario and Luigi had their hammers ready and blocked the initial strikes of the robot under the shield. Nicbot was determined to get them into a position where Nico could strike, and so he aggressively kept attacking, while also trying to get around the brothers to deal with Starlow and Dreambert. Mario and Luigi did their best to keep him away from them, even rotating with Nicbot, Starlow and Dreambert to keep them away from the robot. Nicbot eventually had enough, and as the spheres from his creator kept hitting the shield, he backed off and switched both of his arms into missile launchers, aiming them at the shield.

The group knew that Starlow and Dreambert wouldn´t be able to hold out against that barrage for long, so Mario and Luigi reluctantly left their cover to stop Nicbot from firing. Nico immediately changed his focus onto the two, and sent sphere after sphere down at them. Starlow and Dreambert used this to put the shield down again and create Love Spheres, which they shot at Nico. The human didn´t notice the projectiles coming, though his Jetback´s sensors picked them up and brought him out of line of fire. As this had been surprising for Nico, his aim was thrown off for a moment, causing his spheres to hit Nicbot instead.

The robot didn´t take any damage, but the spheres distracted him, enough time for Mario to jump forward and hammer him away, sending him flying into a wall. Luigi followed suit, and the brothers both ran at him. Together, they hit him with their hammers hard enough for him to get drilled into the wall for a good bit, a prison he would need some time to escape from.

Nico in the meantime switched his focus to Starlow and Dreambert, sending sphere after sphere down at them. The two of them either dodged the projectiles, used their Love Shield to block them, or countered them with their Love Spheres. While countering with their spheres, they also made sure to attack him with several ones, but he was easily able to dodge them. With how they were fighting, they wouldn´t go anywhere, but Mario and Luigi were on the plan by now. Transforming into Fire Mario and Fire Luigi using a pair of Fire Flowers, they started throwing fireballs at the human.

Nico´s Jetback brought him out of line of fire when the first fireballs were closing in on him, and by that he noticed that Nicbot was out of the fight for the time being. Unable to counter that many projectiles at once, Nico created a blue shield in front of him, blocking what was thrown at him. After considering his options, he used his Jetback to accelerate towards Starlow and Dreambert at high speed, just to activate his blade and dive at them. They quickly split up, leaving him between the two of them.

Nico landed on the ground and lunged at Starlow, swinging his blade at her. She was barely able to dodge it by scooting back, up, down and sideways. Nico eventually was fed up with missing her, and created five red spheres around him. While dashing towards her, he prepared to throw them at her, but as he tried to do so, Starlow and Dreambert created a shield around him, rendering his attack useless. The spheres crashed into it, leaving small cracks in the shield. Mario and Luigi were running at him by now, ready to fight him once the shield was down.

Nico on the other hand pressed his hands against the shield and started summoning red spheres in them, causing them to instantly damage the barrier. The cracks on the shield quickly grew larger, and as the shield was about to burst, everyone readied themselves. Starlow and Dreambert readied another Love Beam, while Mario and Luigi had their hammers ready. Nico´s Jetback on the other hand was preparing a boost, and as the shield gave in, it took him near the ceiling in a fast matter, causing Starlow and Dreambert´s attack to miss. While flying upwards, he kept summoning red spheres and threw them at the group, forcing them to scatter.

Mario and Luigi suddenly got blasted away, losing their Fire Forms in the process. Nicbot had managed to free himself, and shot the brothers with his energy launchers. The brothers were injured, but they definitely weren´t out of the fight. As Nico descended again to have a better shot at hitting his targets, Mario jumped onto Luigi, who jumped as well and sent Mario higher into the air. Mario landed on Luigi again, but this time, Luigi jumped with all of his strength and catapulted Mario high into the air, close enough to Nico to grab him by his feet. Nico panicked, and the two of them quickly travelled to the ground, as the Jetback wasn´t designed to carry more than one person at once.

The two had almost reached the ground when Mario let go of him and saved himself by rolling onto the floor. Nico´s Jetback finally was able to stop his fall as well, and he landed on the ground. Nicbot wasted no time and charged at Mario and Luigi, both of his blades out now. The brothers clashed with him using their hammers again, but Nico backed off instead, and ran into a corner of the room. Starlow and Dreambert followed him, just to see him type a few buttons on a flat and round machine. It created a small portal, showing the outside of Woohoo Hooniversity.

"Nicbot, this isn´t going anywhere! We´ll bail for now," Nico yelled over to his robot, who blocked an attack from both plumbers and looked at him. "Alright, I´ll be with you in a few seconds," he replied, and performed a backflip away from the Mario Bros.. Afterwards, he activated his thrusters and flew over to his creator, who was busy throwing more spheres at Starlow and Dreambert. While flying over them, Nicbot sent down a few missiles, forcing the two of them to flee from them. Nico and Nicbot positioned themselves in front of the portal, and stepped through it, teleporting them away.

"They must be somewhere outside, quick! We might still be able to catch them," Dreambert said, but Starlow thought ahead. "They might have another trap set up on the other side of that portal, we should run outside instead," she suggested to the others. Everyone agreed, and the group quickly ran out of the building, where they were able to see the Zeeppelin taking off above the trees surrounding the Hooniversity. Nico was at the controls, while Nicbot waved at them, taunting them as the blimp started flying away.

"Ahahaha, and once again you failed to stop us! This time, you stand no chance; and the world will bow to the one who deserves it! See you, losers!" they were able to hear him shout at them, before the blimp flew into the direction of the fields.

* * *

"Great, now what?" Luigi sighed in annoyance. Of course their enemies had gotten away again. "Well, we´ll just have to ask around. They won´t stay unnoticed with that blimp, you know," Starlow replied. The group got ready to leave, when an inhabitant of the kingdom suddenly appeared in front of them. Blonde hair, travelling on a flying pillow: Prince Peasley had arrived.

"Ah, it is a pleasure to see you again, Mario and Luigi. I assume your companions are the royalties from Pi'illo Island?" the young prince greeted the group, as he went through his hair with his hand, letting glitter and sparkles fly from it, slightly blinding everyone else. "Prince Peasley, so we meet again," Luigi said, and took a bow.

"It is true, these two are our friends Starlow and Dreambert, queen and king of Pi'illo Island," Mario added as he took a bow as well, hiding his annoyance. "In this case, let me know you that you are most welcome in our kingdom. I am Prince Peasley, humble hero of this land," the bean said as he flew closer to the royal couple, shaking hands with Dreambert and bowing to Starlow.

"Now, it seems that the ones you were chasing have gotten away. Tch tch, you have certainly let up since we last met," he then remarks as he shook his head at the plumbers, a smug smile on his face. "But fear not, for I will find out their location. In the meantime, you may return to the castle, as your other friend should have arrived by now. Just leave things to a hero," he then continues, and let sparkles flow from his hair again, before flying off into the direction Nico and Nicbot had fled into.

"I think I see what you meant when you talked about him," Dreambert said in annoyance. Mario and Luigi simply nodded, while Starlow let out a loud and long sigh. "He really is quite full of himself…well, as long as he finds the two, I´m willing to look past that for now," she replied. Dreambert thought about it, and had to agree. He was annoying, but at least he could prove useful.

"Well then, I guess we should return to the castle. If what he said is true, we should have backup by now, which will make fighting Nico and Nicbot easier," Mario suggested, and as nobody had any better ideas, they set off towards Beanbean Castle. Traversing the areas without interruption, it didn´t take long for the group to arrive in the town. The inhabitants were already awaiting their return, as a few of them quickly came over to the group as they arrived.

"Have you managed to defeat the ones who took over the Hooniversity?" one of the scientists asked them excitedly. "Not exactly, we managed to force them out again, but they have escaped. Prince Peasley is currently trying to find out their location," Mario calmly explained, at which the scientist seemed to calm down. "Ah, Prince Peasley has teamed up with you? In this case, our kingdom is in good hands. Well, we will return to the Hooniversity and resume working, after we have restored it to working order, of course," he replied, and he and several others walked away, out of the town.

Mario and the rest on the other hand walked to the castle, where two guards saluted them as they walked past. They entered the castle to be met by Lady Lima, assistant of Queen Bean. "Mario and Luigi, welcome back. The queen and I are eagerly awaiting your report on how things went. Your friend has arrived as well, and is waiting in the throne room. Follow me, please," she greeted the group, and headed towards the throne room, prompting the party to follow her.

Inside the room they saw Queen Bean sitting on her throne, which Lady Lima positioned herself next to. In front of the throne, hovering on a broom, was a Magikoopa they were all too familiar with. "Kamek, glad to see that you´re finally here!" Mario said with a grin. The Magikoopa lowered his altitude and let his broom disappear. "Well, it´s nice to see you guys again. I take it that you´ve run into complications while trying to get Nico back?" he asked the group.

"Yes, please tell us what exactly happened while you were absent," Queen Bean requested, and Starlow hovered forward. "Well, we were trying to bring our friend, Nico, back from his exile after a certain amount of time that he had specified. Unfortunately, one of his creations, a robot, has returned at around the same time after we thought that we had done enough to destroy it," Starlow began.

"Don´t tell me that Nicbot is actually still up and running," Kamek asked as he let out a sigh. "Sadly, that is the truth. We had found Nico, but Nicbot then ambushed us and shot him with a high amount of hate, causing him to revert to being a villain again…we had tried to battle the robot and force the hate out of our friend again, but just like Nicbot always is like, he is annoying and persistent. He got us out of the way for long enough to make his escape with Nico, and the two came here to Beanbean Kingdom. We had arrived at the Hooniversity, after Nico had performed some repairs on the robot that had seemed to be necessary. We battled the two of them, but Nico had an escape ready, and the two got away before we could bring the fight to a close. Now they´re somewhere out in the kingdom, and Prince Peasley is trying to find out where exactly they are," Starlow concluded what had happened so far.

"My, my. It would seem that you have a longer history with these two figures. We are counting on you and the prince to stop this threat before it becomes as dangerous as Cackletta, or even worse," Queen Bean then said. Mario and Co. knew what the two could be capable of, and they hoped that they were able to take them down before they could process any plan.

"Well, now that we have Kamek at our side, things should be easier from now on. Let us just hope that the prince can find Nico and Nicbot in time…" Luigi said, and just then a guard stormed inside the room. "Your highness! Prince Peasley sends me with the message that he has found the two subjects we are looking for deep inside of Chucklehuck Woods!"

"Very well! Mario and friends, I do hope that you will be on your way and stop these two from whatever they are trying to achieve. Good luck to all of you!" Queen Bean said as she stood up. The others looked at each other and nodded, ready to free Nico again. The five of them left the throne room.

* * *

 **It would have been too good to be true to see Nico and Nicbot defeated so easily, right? What is Nicbot´s plan, however? We will find out (somewhat) in the next chapter. Surprises coming up, my friends!**

 **Ahaha…wait, when the next chapter´s coming out? Uhh…good question, because I´m writing another Deltarune story at the same time…within one month, for sure! If I put a lot of effort into it, I´ll be able to push out more chapters soon enough for both stories.**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	8. Having The Returning!

***Hums along to the tune of Field of Hopes And Dreams from the Deltarune OST…***

 **Huh? Oh, hey guys. This is sort of the part where writing this starts to become a bit more difficult for me, plot-wise speaking. I´m still not quite sure how I´ll let this story play out, I have both a good ending and a bad one in mind. Maybe I´ll write both and let the reader decide which one they´d prefer…**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Upon exiting the castle, the group quickly noticed a group of scientists walking towards them. Starlow had a bad feeling about it, seeing as how they had chased Nico and Nicbot out of the Hooniversity, so they shouldn´t have had any reason to come back.

"Why are you back already? There shouldn´t be any more trouble at the Hooniversity, right?" Mario asked them once they were close enough. "If it were that easy…we would like to resume working, but most of our technology has been stolen. We suspect those two individuals behind that," one of the scientists explained. The group looked at each other; it did seem to fit Nico and Nicbot´s motives to steal technology for their plans. They must have had it on the blimp already when they fled the fight.

"So they are already planning something, great. Seeing how much destruction they had almost brought the last times, I wouldn´t be surprised if we were in for one hell of a ride again…" Dreambert sighed in annoyance and worry. "All the more reason to stop them before things get out of hand. We know where to find them, so let us get to it," Starlow said with determination. They couldn´t allow a catastrophe like the one on Pi'illo Island to happen again, they had only barely managed to save the entire population including guests from Dark Nico´s wrath.

"We´re counting on you to stop them. Since we don´t have anything we could work with anymore, it looks like we´ll have to take a day off," the scientist said, and the group went back to town. Mario and the rest of the group went towards the Warp Pipe inside the town instead, knowing that the forest was a good bit away. They entered it, beginning their journey to Chucklehuck Woods.

* * *

"Is the configuration okay?" Nico looked at the monitor in front of him, going through the various elements displayed on it. "Yep, we got it right this time. Green lights across the board," the human replied as he looked at Nicbot, who stepped away from the machine.

"Alright, I have looked at everything this machine has given me, and I think I understand your plan. So now just tell me…who will it be?" Nico asked his robot, who chuckled at the question. "Why…EVERYONE, of course. Can you think of a better way to stomp them?" Nicbot laughed, at which Nico took a slight step back.

"Everyone? Even…THEM?" he asked, just to be sure. "Yes, even them. Don´t worry, we know what their weakness is, we can get rid of them anytime we like," Nicbot assured him. "Now, take a seat. I feel like they won´t take much longer to arrive here."

"Well…in that case, I know which one will be here first. He shares the hate towards them with me, so he should respond quickly. I doubt that we will have more time for the others, we´ll need a new hideout then," Nico replied.

"Already thought of it, escape plan is ready. Now sit down already," the robot impatiently said. Nico looked at the chair in front of him, a helmet with cables connected to the machine lying next to it. Next to the machine was a big metallic ring on the ground, connected to the machine with cables as well. The generator powering everything stood behind the machine, working away to keep the machine running.

"Sigh…you know, I sort of have a bad feeling, kind of like a premonition," Nico said as he sat down on the chair, but he didn´t resist as Nicbot stepped next to him and put the helmet onto his head. "You´ve just grown worried because they had stopped us twice and we didn´t beat them back at the Hooniversity. Don´t worry, my new plan won´t fail, be assured of that," the robot replied as he typed a few commands on the keyboard.

A whir could be heard from the device, and it carried over to the helmet Nico was sitting under. A slightly tingling feeling on his head was the first thing he noticed, before the helmet started glowing in an orange light. He closed his eyes and focused, concentrating on the immense hate inside of him. The hate directed at those who opposed him, who set him back again and again.

As he concentrated, he soon felt something else…an equal hate meeting his own, accompanied by something that sent a slight chill down his spine. A maddened, sinister cackling; a laugh that he knew very well. Inside of his head a set of two red, swirled eyes appeared, as well as a wide grin that was learned to be feared in the Mushroom and Beanbean Kingdom.

He could hear another sound next to him, and concluded that it had to be the portal opening in the metal ring on the ground, granting access for the ones long gone from this world. The eyes and grin slowly faded away, and as they disappeared, he heard something else, both in his head and next to him. "I have the returning!" the voice exclaimed.

" _Is this the right path? I can´t help but feel as if something about the whole thing was off…something is different than the last times. I want to see them destroyed, but it feels as if I will get more than I wanted…_ " Nico thought as he opened his eyes again and took the helmet off of his head, eager to greet their new guest.

* * *

Leaving the Warp Pipe, the group found themselves in a dark forest, though the area was familiar to Mario and Luigi. They had been here before, back when they had to cure Queen Bean from a Belly Blech worm. They had been here a second time as well, when they had to reassemble the Bean Star and ran into Popple for a third time in their adventure.

"Ah, so you have arrived here, wonderful," they could hear a familiar voice above them say, followed by a Beanish with golden hair descend before the group on a flying pillow. "Prince Peasley, I assume that you know where exactly our foes are hiding?" Starlow said with supressed annoyance.

"Of course, they are far in the west of the forest, where once a large hedge stood. They seem to have something going on there, but they seemed powerful, so I didn´t try to interfere without knowing the danger," the prince replied, and went through his hair.

"Sounds like the area we had to fight that Wiggler in. And it also sounds like we should hurry, they´re already progressing with their plan, whatever that is this time," Luigi brought up as he thought about the possible locations.

"I wish you luck. If they manage to escape again, I shall be quick to follow so that we know where they go next time," Peasley told the group, and flew away again. "Does he think that we can´t handle them?" Dreambert sighed, but Starlow knew that the prince had a reason to doubt them.

"Well, we did fail to stop them last time, and he himself said that the two of them are powerful without even having seen what they are capable of," Starlow reminded him, and after a few seconds, he reluctantly nodded.

"Enough talking, we need to stop them before things get worse," Kamek reminded them, and just as he said it, Starlow felt something…a shift in the world, as if something that was never supposed to happen had been forced by someone. And this thing was…evil, a familiar evil she felt as well.

"You´re right, whatever they are planning, it will top what they have done on Pi'illo Island, I know it. Hurry!" she yelled at the others, who were surprised at her sudden outburst, but knew that they had better things to do than question her. With quick steps, they made their way through the forest, again being led by the Mario brothers.

As they got closer towards their destination, Starlow felt something that didn´t quite make sense to her. She felt a massive amount of hate ahead of them, but it was even more than the last time she had seen Nico, as if there was a new source of it. The group pushed on, and reached the iron gate that marked the entrance to the area Peasley had reported their enemies in.

They quietly snuck closer as to not alarm anyone of their presence, and soon heard voices, though too far away to understand them. They belonged to Nico and Nicbot, but there was also a third one, and she was quite sure that she had heard the voice before. As they snuck closer to the edge, they were able to see Nicbot standing relatively close to it, facing away from them.

"Alright, how about we surprise attack Nicbot and take him out of battle? That way, we´ll have it a lot easier when facing Nico," Kamek suggested to them, lighting a light bulb inside of Starlow´s head. "I could fly Mario and Luigi above him, and they could hammer him straight into the ground. He won´t get out of that easily," she whispered, gaining nods from everyone.

"Alright, let´s do it then," Mario said, and Starlow flew above him, enabling him to jump and grab onto her feet. She then flew above Luigi at higher altitude, and Luigi grabbed hold onto Mario. Starlow now flew upwards above the area, though they were unable to see Nico as he stood next to a machine which he had to had taken from the Hooniversity. Starlow flew above Nicbot, and Mario and Luigi let go of her, taking their hammers out as they fell down towards the robot. With a synchronized swing, they instantly buried him deep into the ground, though the sound alarmed Nico quite effectively.

"Grr…if it isn´t you guys again. Hey, look who decided to drop by," he said as he stepped into view, but he looked at a position next to the machine. Another person stepped into view as Dreambert and Kamek arrived on the scene as well. Dreambert didn´t know who he was, though everyone else did. Red glasses with a swirl on them, a wide grin across his face, a Beanish wearing a dark cloak with the symbol of the Dark Star on it. And on his head a Vacuum Helmet, the villain that had almost taken over Mushroom Kingdom on his own stood before them yet again.

"I have fury! The fink-rats of red and green wearing moustaches have the standing in front of Fawful´s eyes like a pair of golf balls waiting to be beaten!" Fawful shouted in his maddened fury as he stepped next to Nico and saw Mario and Luigi. Mario and Luigi stood there with widely open mouths, just like Starlow and Kamek. "Fawful?! I thought we had dealt with you for good, we even witnessed your end," Starlow eventually was able to say, but she felt as if the answer to the unspoken question stood next to them in the form of the machine from the Hooniversity.

"I have had the reviving with the helping of my new allies like the hunger of a new-born child that always cries for food. And now, Fawful will have the feeding, the feeding of you fink-rats with the fury of Fawful and his friend!" the mad Beanish shouted, and his Vacuum Helmet activated, just like Nico´s Jetback. The human himself seemed to be quite excited about the fight himself.

"Heh, never thought that I´d fight alongside someone that could actually match my levels of resourcefulness and creativity. This battle will be entertaining, though not for you. With Fawful by my side, I won´t need Nicbot to take you on. Come on, again!" he shouted at the group, with both glasses-wearers being lifted into the air by their devices. Fawful crossed his arm in front of him and widened his grin, while Nico took his energy blade out and summoned a bunch of spheres above him.

* * *

 **And so the first step of Nicbot´s plan presents itself with the return of the mad inventive genius who always has fury, Fawful! With Nicbot out of the battle, how will the duo fare against our friends? We will find out in the next chapter! And trust me when I say that the list of plot-twists has only just begun…(well alright it already began with Nicbot getting Nico or rather Dark Nico back in action, but then again that was sort of expected I guess).**

 **ETA for the next chapter: unknown, as I am also writing a Deltarune story alternatingly with chapters from this story. Focus will be back on the Deltarune story until the next chapter there is out, and then I will return to the next one here, which might take a bit considering that I´ll have to come up with a fight worthy of this duo.**

 **So with all of this in mind: review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	9. Hate and Fury

**Boss battle: The Creating Duo (Nico and Fawful)**

There were moments where Mario and Luigi could easily defeat a boss, thanks to them being used to it. There were also moments where they struggled, but were able to keep up; a boss could be stronger than they first let on after all. And then there was a time when two evil, genius maniacs teamed up and unleashed chaos on the battlefield. And that one moment was right now.

Fawful´s Vacuum Helmet shot its top part at a branch above the battlefield as a grappling hook, with him swinging towards the group to hit them afterwards. Mario hammered him back, but the Beanish quickly changed his direction of travel again and approached the heroes again. As this happened, Nico sent his spheres towards the group at different angles, forcing Starlow and Dreambert to create Love Spheres in order to counter some of Nico´s projectiles.

They took a few of Nico´s out of the air, while Mario and Luigi dodged the remaining ones…right into Fawful´s swing-attack. Both brothers stood in line as he crashed into them, sending them flying into the nearby wall. Nico´s spheres were still in the air, but Kamek created his magical shapes to destroy them before they were able to cause more harm.

"Fink rats! Nobody will have the standing before Fawful; opposers will have the feeling of destruction like eggs when they have the falling on the ground!" Fawful madly shouted at them as the grappling hook retracted back to his Vacuum Helmet as he took position next to Nico again.

"We have fine synergy, I´ll have to admit. This could be the start of both a beautiful partnership and friendship," Nico said with a smile as he summoned four more spheres around him – purple ones. "Fawful does not need friends, he needs the returning of the great Cackletta and his underling Midbus, so that we can have the taking of the world as our own," the Beanish said with his mad grin, causing Nico to shrug.

"Alright, whatever. We can get into that once we´re done here, the most important thing is that we can obliterate those pesky heroes," the teenager replied as he pointed at the group. Mario and Luigi had recovered from the impact and regrouped with the others, waiting for the next attack of the two inventors. Fawful detached from his Vacuum Helmet and landed on the ground, with the device hovering in front of him and starting to suck in the air around the group with great force, forcing two Fire Flowers and two Ice Flowers to fly out of Mario and Luigi´s pockets and get inhaled by the Vacuum Helmet.

Fawful took out his ray gun and charged it up, while Nico tossed his spheres out towards the group. The Beanish fired a chain of stars from his gun, the first one being a big pink one, while the rest were smaller blue ones. They started circling above the group, with the big one turning into a small star after two loops before tilting sideways, forming a horizontal ring. As they descended towards the group, Nico´s spheres closed in, and as they were purple, they knew that they had no chance to dodge them because they were homing ones locked onto a target each.

The ring of stars was now slightly above the ground, trapping the group inside of it. Nico´s spheres were easily dealt with, because everyone just stayed put as Kamek created a shield around the entire group with his wand. The spheres harmlessly crashed into it, but the assault wasn´t over yet. Nico charged himself and released numerous red spheres around him, sending them into the shield Kamek had created. Cracks started to appear on it, and the group knew that the protection wouldn´t remain stable for long.

As the shield finally burst, Starlow and Dreambert immediately sent Love Spheres at Nico, enough to stop his onslaught and force him to counter their attack. Kamek, Mario and Luigi would have been able to do something about the ring of stars trapping them, but Fawful´s Vacuum Helmet flew closer towards them and started glowing in a red light. It spat out fireballs at them thanks to having absorbed Fire Flowers earlier, forcing Mario and Luigi to hammer the projectiles back as they weren´t able to dodge them.

Kamek on the other hand set up an attack to finally destroy the ring of stars, creating magical shapes to send them into the ring. As he did so, the shapes destroyed some of the stars, until one hit made the rest of the stars disappear at once, making Fawful let out a sound of disappointed anger. Mario and Luigi were still busy with the Vacuum Helmet, but the red glow on it vanished as the last fireball flew towards them. The device returned to Fawful and sat onto his head again, lifting him into the air afterwards.

"These fink rats have the annoyance of a missing puzzle piece that Fawful is searching for hours! Let us have the getting rid of them," the Beanish requested in his furious madness. Nico still threw sphere after sphere against the ones of Starlow and Dreambert, but he found time to answer. "If you were so kind as to help me out here, I would gladly do that," he could say between creating and launching spheres.

"Eeyah ha ha ha ha, Fawful will have the destruction of those fink rats, just have the waiting and seeing!" Fawful cackled as he detached from his helmet again, before glowing in a purple light and floating into the air above the battlefield, creating four dark portals around him. Four additional portals appeared at the same time around the group in different positions and at different heights and angles. He then threw a dark sphere into one, causing it to come out of a portal around the group, where it hit Kamek by surprise.

Fawful cackled and started throwing more spheres, forcing everyone to get ready to block them off. After some time, they knew which portals were connected, but it was then that the portals around them started rotating clockwise while the ones around Fawful rotated counter-clockwise. With this tactic the group again had no idea which portals the spheres would be flying out of, and it was then that the attack became seriously dangerous.

Fawful´s Vacuum Helmet flew towards them again, this time with a light blue glow, spitting ice balls at the group. Kamek took it upon himself to block the attacks of the flying device, while everyone else was busy with keeping Fawful from hitting them again. Only that Nico was going on the attack again as well, creating spheres around him as well and launching them at the group. The group quickly decided that Nico´s spheres had a higher priority because of their effects, but this allowed Fawful to hit them easier than before.

It didn´t take long before Starlow was hit by a sphere of the Beanish, but she endured it and focused back on keeping Love Spheres in the air to counter Nico´s, while also trying to dodge the ones of Fawful. Dreambert soon was hit as well, and by now they had less spheres in the air than at the start of their strategic change, causing Nico´s spheres to come dangerously close. Thankfully for them, the Vacuum Helmet had used up the Ice Flower it had consumed and stopped its attack, allowing the rest of the group to have a better shot at countering the attacks of Nico and Fawful.

Mario and Luigi managed to hammer the dark spheres away by now, and after some time they hit the Beanish in the air, causing his attack to come to a halt. Fawful fell to the ground as he was surprised by the hit, taking more damage as he landed. The portals disappeared at the same time as he was hit, and now Kamek and the royal pair from Pi'illo Island sent more projectiles at Nico than he was able to summon at once without wearing himself out in the process.

Fawful stood up again, now with a crack in his right glass. His Vacuum Helmet flew to him and spewed a dark smoke at him, after which he seemed to feel a lot better than before, leading Starlow to the assumption that it had healed him a good bit. He seemed to be quite angry by now as well.

"Enoughing! This has the ending right now!" the mad Beanish yelled at them and lifted his hand, causing four black spheres to start circling around him. Starlow and Dreambert changed their focus to him and summoned Love Spheres to fire at him, but Nico flew in front of him and deflected them with his now activated energy blade. Mario and Luigi, now that they weren´t under constant attack anymore, ran towards the human with their hammers ready, and they knew that he had to fend them off to ensure that Fawful was able to execute his attack.

He landed on the ground and engaged the plumbers, keeping one of them away from him with his spheres while fighting the other one in close combat. Starlow, Dreambert and Kamek launched their attacks at Fawful while this happened, but the Beanish created a fifth sphere in front of him that moved from side to side, and as their attacks hit the dark spheres they bounced right off. Nico did his best and tried to take a few projectiles of them out of the air while trying to fight Mario and Luigi at once, clearly stressing him out to the point of exhaustion.

The dark spheres around Fawful suddenly moved towards the group, destroying any projectile hit by them. Kamek, Starlow and Dreambert created two shields in front of them, but the spheres were strong enough to blast through them, though two of them were taken out by bursting the shields away. Each member was struck by one sphere, taking Starlow and Dreambert out of the battle and almost fainting Kamek as well.

Nico was still nearing exhaustion as he kept on fighting the two plumbers, but Fawful´s Vacuum Helmet flew closer to the trio and sent out another volley of fireballs. Nico did notice them in time and disengaged from the Mario Brothers, flying into the air afterwards. Mario and Luigi on the other hand managed to knock the fireballs away or dodge them, but as they were busy now, Nico had time to relax and collect himself for further combat.

Kamek used his magic to turn into a white Magikoopa, reviving both Starlow and Dreambert with a bit of health. They quickly analysed the current situation and prepared themselves to shoot Nico out of the air again, firing a Love Beam at the human. His Jetback quickly flew him out of line of fire, but the beam was then redirected, forcing Nico to put up his shield to not get hit. Starlow and Dreambert tried to work through it, and soon felt the protection of him getting weaker.

"Ugh…I can´t keep that up for much longer…" they heard him say in an exhausted tone, but it was then that Fawful intervened. Mario and Luigi were still busy with the Vacuum Helmet which was using up its last Ice Flower by now, allowing the Beanish to fire his ray gun at Starlow and Dreambert, but before they were hit, Kamek put up a shield next to them, saving them. They still stopped their beam as they were on alert now, focusing their attacks on Fawful instead who in return let dark spheres appear in front of him to block their attacks.

Fawful´s Vacuum Helmet returned to him after it had used up the Ice Flower, enabling Mario and Luigi to partake in the fight again. They charged at Fawful, but his flying device attached itself to him and lifted the Beanish into the air again, out of reach for the brothers. It was then that they remembered Nico again, looking for him in the sky. They did see him, but only as he landed right in front of the group with a blue ball of energy charged in his hand.

Releasing his Knockback Beam, the entire party was catapulted away into the leafs of the trees surrounding the area, after which Nico ran over to the spot where Nicbot was still buried. He himself was suddenly knocked away as well as the ground exploded, finally enabling the robot to fly out of his prison again.

"Nicbot, we´re leaving…I´m too worked out to keep fighting…I´m starting the blimp," the human simply said as he dusted himself off and stood up again, walking over to where they had parked the blimp behind a few trees. "Fawful won´t have the leaving. We need to destroy the enemies who have the persisting!" the mad Beanish shouted, but Nicbot started disassembling the machine into a few smaller parts and brought them to the blip. "We can´t overpower them easily right now, we´ll deal with them once we have enough firepower and backup to do so," the robot replied as he loaded the final part of the machine, the engines of the blimp already running at peak performance.

"We better not have the regretting of this, or else Fawful will have fury," Fawful said as he landed on the blimp as well, and the heroes could only watch as they struggled out of their positions on top of the trees. The blimp took off and started flying north, leaving the group alone in the forest. "Ngh…they escaped again…" Starlow complained as she finally managed to free herself of the branches and hover away from the tree, looking after the blimp. " _Looks like we´ll have to rely on Prince Peasley again…just what do you want with Fawful? Could they try to bring back other villains as well? This could very well be the most dangerous of their plans…so much power, all directed at us…please, Light Nico, do what you can to put a stop to Dark Nico…"_

* * *

" _This feeling…Starlow?"_

"…"

" _I…I can´t do much, but I will try nonetheless. Somehow, I will have to hinder them…"_

* * *

 **Seems like Fawful and Nico can perform quite well together! And now they are somewhere else again, plotting their next scheme. Where they are? We will find out…**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	10. Preparations of Evil

"…"

" _Still…no reaction? Nothing?"_

" _I…won´t blame you…this isn´t your fault…"_

" _We can be friends…we all can. We will rescue you…we were getting along well, and I think you actually enjoyed the time with me…I will make sure that we can go back to those good times."_

" _I…wish that I wouldn´t have to do it, but…I will have to beat you to your senses, one final time…"_

" _At least I hope that we´ll be able to…you´re so powerful right now…"_

"…"

* * *

"Of all possible locations, you of course had to choose this one. It´s so hot here," Nico complained while Nicbot started unloading the blimp again, setting up the machine in the area they had retreated to. "Alright, noted. Our next hiding spot will be cooler than this one. So, how are you holding up? You look like you´ve gotten quite exhausted in that fight back there," the robot replied, and Nico let out a sigh.

"I´ll admit, while Fawful and I are a good team, they are really persistent and strong. Glad that I still had enough energy left to knock them all away for us to make our escape," the human noted, while Fawful hovered off the blimp as well. "Fawful will have the destroying of the fink rats that he hates, alongside the great Cackletta and his underling Midbus! We will have the reviving of them!" the mad Beanish shouted, and Nico glanced at Nicbot for a second.

"Sure that this was a good idea? They will want the world for themselves, and I doubt that they´ll share anything with us," he whispered to his robot. Making sure that they were out of earshot, Nicbot leaned in closer to his creator. "We´ll only need them as long as those heroes are on our tail. Once the time is right, a solid backstab will ensure the success of my plan without any other villain standing in the way," he whispered back, causing Nico to emit a light chuckle.

"Ah, you´ve planned this one all the way through, I like it. Well then, let´s play along for now…" Nico replied, and rested on the blimp again while Nicbot kept assembling the machine, setting it up next to their flying vehicle. Once everything was set up and done, the robot looked over to Nico again. "Alright, it´s ready, though you might want to adjust the settings again, to be sure," he said, and Nico stood up and walked over to the display with the keyboard attached to it.

"Hey Fawful, have a look at this. If we want to get Cackletta and Midbus back, what settings would you change?" the human asked their ally, who walked over to him and took a look at the display. "This machine had the reviving of Fawful? Fawful will sit in the chair himself, with the machine having the settings of this," the Beanish said and typed a few commands, Nico carefully watching over everything.

"Yeah, that should work like this. Alright, then let´s get to it, we still have work to do," Nico ordered, and Fawful took his Vacuum Helmet off and sat down on the chair, where Nicbot connected him to the machine. Nico typed a few commands and started the process again, hoping that everything would work out.

" _Well, here we are…it´s a risk to bring everyone back, but it should definitely be enough to stop Starlow and the others. And yet…it feels as if an unexpected danger is imminent, something that I should know of…have I forgotten anything? Something inside of me just seems to scream for me to prevent something from happening, but I just can´t figure out what it is…"_

" _Once we have them back, I´ll go for the final step of the first phase of my plan. He should know by now what it is, I even explained it to him. This time, everything will be different, nobody will stand before the master of chaos and destruction. Hehe…they will not be prepared for this…"_

" _Alright, looks like the connection is established, Cackletta and Midbus should arrive soon enough…I wonder what sort of trick we could use to get rid of them again, Cackletta and Fawful are both evil geniuses after all. Then again…with how I see things, Nicbot already has a plan for that, and I´d bet that he also has a plan for the others as well. Ah, my trusty robot, built and designed to be just like me before our misadventure in Mushroom Kingdom…"_

" _Whatever is going to happen, this adventure will be the very last one. We´ll go all out, and destroy everyone and everything that could be a hindrance. Prepare yourselves, for the final act has begun at last."_

* * *

Mario and Co. had taken a long time to free themselves of the branches and leaves, longer than they were content with. They knew that it didn´t matter much anyways, because they were going to have to wait for Prince Peasley to tell them where the villains had retreated to. With nothing left to do, the group began to walk back through the forest, the Warp Pipe bringing them back to the castle being their destination.

"So, they actually managed to revive Fawful, which itself is bad enough already. Do you think they they´ll try to bring everyone else back as well?" Kamek broke the silence they were walking in, getting a sigh of frustration from Starlow as a response. She hated to admit it, but that theory was the most likely scenario right now.

"I fear that this is what they could try to achieve, so that they can take us down with combined efforts. I don´t want to be pessimistic, but I think facing that many powerful villains at the same time exceeds our limits," she replied with a sour expression, mirroring her mood. Was this supposed to be the final push of villainy against them?

"We must try nonetheless, or else we wouldn´t be who we are. Nicbot and Nico may be the most powerful opponents we could face, and if they teamed up with Fawful, Cackletta and who knows who else, they will outnumber and overpower us, but if we can take them down one at a time, we could still manage to do it. Plus, remember that Nico is…well, a sort of wild card. We could try to shift him back to our side, and perhaps even get him to bring Nicbot to our side as well. However this goes, I think Nico is the key to how this adventure will end," Dreambert rose his voice, surprising everyone.

"Hm…do you know what? You might be right, if we could get Nico back on track, we would have a powerhouse on our side that needs to be reckoned with. So…do we focus on him in this case?" Mario answered, looking at the others with a questioning look. Starlow thought about it, and she concluded that things hadn´t escalated yet, because the other villains still had to be revived.

"Perhaps it would be for the better that way. The more love Dreambert and I can hit him with, the more powerful Light Nico will get, and the weaker Dark Nico is going to be. If we manage to even the two of them out, we should be able to turn the tides. Nicbot and the others won´t make it easier, but I believe that we could pull it off," she confidently replied, gaining the approval of everyone else as well.

The group had reached the Warp Pipe and was about to enter, but in a moment of surprise, Prince Peasley landed in front of it and prompted the others to stop. As always, he went through his hair with his hand before he started to speak. "Ah, I was already wondering where you had gone. They do seem to be quite powerful, judging by how you look. If you want to try and stop them again, however, look for them in Teehee Valley, where the SS Chuckola was located before someone pulled it out of the wall," the prince said to them, and looked at Mario and Luigi in the end.

"Teehee Valley, there is a Warp Pipe in Easter Beanbean Outskirts that´s quite near the entrance to the desert…if we´re quick enough, we could be able to interrupt anything they´re doing there right now. Let´s get to it!" Mario said after he had thought about it, and stormed ahead into the pipe. Kamek quickly followed him, leaving Starlow, Dreambert and Luigi alone with the prince.

"Well, thank you, Prince Peasley, and please excuse the behaviour of them. We have a long history with these villains, and would like to bring it to a close for good this time," Starlow explained to him with an uneasy smile. "No worries, I know that the great Mario can be quite impulsive in these regards. I will head to Teehee Valley myself and keep an eye out, should they escape your grasps again. We shall meet soon, heroes," the prince replied, and flew off into the direction of their next destination.

"Why do I feel like we´re going to run into more trouble in the desert?" Starlow spoke as they entered the pipe. They found themselves in Eastern Beanbean Outskirts, with Mario and Kamek waiting for them. "Because whenever we had to deal with any of the guys we need to defeat right now, there was trouble involved. It won´t be different this time, not with someone as chaotic as Fawful or Nicbot around," Luigi answered, the group starting to move towards Teehee Valley.

It was surprising to them that their trip went without interruption, but it didn´t take long before they had reached the southern entrance of the desert. Mario and Luigi took the lead and quickly turned East, knowing that the passage there would quickly bring them to where Peasley had reported Nico and the others in. The group ran through the area, prepared to fight the villains another time, when they suddenly heard an explosion above them go off.

They looked up, and saw boulders flying down towards their location, prompting everyone to run back again before the rocks crashed onto the ground, completely blocking the way and making the passage impossible to walk through. "Tsavo´s the name!" they heard before a second explosion could be heard, though it seemed to be further north, followed by the sounds of boulders crashing onto ground. "Mischief´s my game!" they could hear, and looking up they were able to see an annoyingly familiar Parakoopa at the top of a wall surrounding the area.

* * *

 **Mini-boss: Tsavo, Fight #3**

"You again, Tsavo?!" Starlow furiously shouted at him. Was this guy seriously going to hinder them again while the villains were advancing with their plans? "Of course, you´re too much fun to play with! Let´s see how good you´re at a game of Dodgeball, or in this case, Dodge-rock!" the Parakoopa happily replied, and threw a lit bomb onto the wall, the explosion causing a few more boulders to fly down at the group. Thankfully for them it weren´t as many as the ones blocking the path to where the SS Chuckola had been, allowing them to hustle out of the landing positions of them.

"Ha ha, dodge, dodge!" Tsavo cheered as he threw two more bombs at the group, only for Mario and Luigi to hammer them back at him. The troublemaker swiftly flew sideways and evaded them, but the bombs landed on the wall and blew more rocks out of it, endangering the group once more. Kamek raised his wand and fired a beam at a boulder from it, slowing its fall down to a slower pace. "Starlow, help me and hurl it back at him!" he ordered the Star Sprite, who quickly tapped into her powers and attempted to levitate it. It took the two of them some effort, but the rock was stopped in its fall, and they soon shot it back towards Tsavo.

While this was happening, Mario and Luigi had both consumed another Fire Flower and waited for their moment to strike at Tsavo. The Parakoopa lazily flew out of line of fire of the boulder, but was caught off guard when he was suddenly confronted by a screen of fireballs in front of him. He tried to dodge to the best of his abilities, which was still impressive due to his agility, but he eventually got hit by a projectile and landed on the wall, where he was hit by a Love Sphere and a magical bolt from Starlow, Dreambert and Kamek.

"Argh, you´re such lame players! Can´t someone have a bit of fun in their lives? I´ll see you again, that´s a promise!" he half-whined before racing off into the direction of Hoohoo Mountain. "What´s the deal with that guy?" Kamek asked the others, as he hadn´t met Tsavo before. "He wants to cause us trouble; he has done that on Pi'illo Island and on our way to Woohoo Hooniversity before. Thankfully he doesn´t seem to be a good fighter, because he´ll retreat once he starts taking a beating himself. Now come on, we need to find another way to Nico and the others as soon as we can!" Starlow explained, determined to get Nico back on their side.

* * *

"You´re right, but the second explosion we heard could have blocked off the only other way. We should check it out," Mario told the others, taking the lead and walking west again. They quickly saw that the path north was blocked off as well, which meant that they weren´t able to access the northern area of Teehee Valley.

"Great, does that mean that we´re cut off?" Dreambert groaned, but Luigi shook his head. "We could still get there if we took the Warp Pipe to Little Fungitown, and then backtrack it to the SS Chuckola´s previous location," he presented their last option, and upon hearing this, Mario snapped his fingers at the realization. "You´re right, bro! Let´s get to it!" the plumber in red said, and the group walked back towards Beanbean Fields again.

* * *

 **And yet again, the winged troublemaker strikes! I used this chapter to show what is going on with Nico and Nicbot a bit more, and we will see more interesting developments with the two of them, I can promise you that much!**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	11. Stirring Conflicts

"The sun is beginning to set, I don´t like this…we won´t be able to advance our plan that way, and I´m especially concerned about these explosions I´ve heard…can you give me any intel?" Nico asked his robot, both of them standing next to the machine that was still in the process of bringing both Cackletta and Midbus back, one a great villain herself and the other a faithful underling of Fawful, who was sitting inside of the chair and established the connection to the two of them.

"Hm…it would appear that the explosions caused that pathway to the west of us to become impassable, and I cannot pick up any lifeforms on our side of the blockade. Still, I wonder what may have caused those explosions in the first place, and why there of all places?" Nicbot eventually answered after his thrusters had taken him into the air for a bit, so that he was able to observe everything in the direction he had heard the explosions coming from.

"I would like to think that it doesn´t have to do with THEM, but it is the most reasonable explanation to me…could it be that we aren´t the only ones out to get them?" his creator kept on wondering. If so, would that person or potentially even that group be a threat to them? It was highly unlikely, the explosions had stopped just as quickly as they had started, with only a few going off before everything turned silent again…most likely had it been only a short fight, and he knew that Mario and the others weren´t easily disposed of.

"Well, whatever caused these explosions doesn´t cause them anymore, so that´s fine by me. And even if there was someone hunting them, that makes our lives easier…and we could easily get rid of them, so no cause for alarm in my book," Nicbot confidently replied, landing on the ground again to observe the progress on the machine opening a portal to the afterlife. "Waves about to even out and synchronize, link-establishment complete in a short amount of time, transfer possible soon. We are on our way to have them back," he reported back to Nico, who by now sat on the blimp and kept pondering about things.

"Hey, are you fine over there? If you demand a timeout now when those pesky heroes could turn up any second now, then I am going to lose it…I am supposed to be the annoying one of the two of us," the robot asked as he looked over to Nico, stomping his feet on the ground in annoyance afterwards. "Ha ha…don´t forget who you´ve been designed after. I´m alright, just thinking about stuff…one year has been a long time, y'know?" his creator replied with an amused smile, returning to his thoughts afterwards. For some reason was he unable to get his encounter with Starlow in Somnom Woods back on Pi'illo Island out of his head…the way she had been happy to see him again despite all his evil actions. He couldn´t make sense of it…

"Synchronization complete; transfer imminent!" he suddenly heard Nicbot yell at him, a powerful presence being noted by Nico, coming from the portal. He slowly got up from the blimp again and walked over to his robot, monitoring the process. "They´re coming…" he whispered as he looked at the portal, a familiar cackling audible from it as a tall figure in a cloak began to come out of the portal, alongside a bulky and much smaller one, though still larger than Fawful. "They have the returning at last, Fawful has the happiness!" a Beanish evil genius shouted in his seat.

" _Now…this is where things will begin to become interesting…"_ the two observers thought, albeit for different reasons, unbeknownst to one of them.

* * *

The pipe in Little Fungitown let the group consisting of Mario, Luigi, Starlow, Dreambert and Kamek back out into daylight again after they had entered the Warp Pipe in Beanbean Fields to be able to get to Nico´s last known location, even though their original plan had been thwarted by Tsavo and his obsession with annoying them. They noticed however that the daylight wasn´t as bright anymore, because the sun was beginning to set on the horizon, limiting their time frame.

"We should make haste, we won´t really be able to do much at night, especially because we need sleep ourselves," Starlow raised her voice with concern. Surely were Nico and Fawful going to rest over night as well, but Nicbot didn´t have the need for that, as he was a robot after all. He was on a completely different level of dangerous than Nico, because he couldn´t run out of stamina…there had to be a way to make him lose energy however, because it seemed as if he was self-sustaining…whatever method it used, it did prove that Nico was a master of his work.

"I think I get what you are aiming at, they will most likely have to rest as well…I wonder if Nicbot will continue to do anything over the night as though…do you think we should have more guards stationed at the castle if we fail to stop them again in the desert?" Kamek asked back as they went through the small town of familiar houses and inhabitants. It wasn´t out of the question that Nicbot could theoretically launch an assault on them over night, but Starlow knew that something else played into the current situation as well.

"To be honest, I don´t think that´ll be necessary. We may have a handful of villains against us now, and according to what Fawful said in the forest, he wants to revive his former mistress and his underling as well…but do you really think that they trust each other? Sure, they want to get rid of us, but that is where their cooperation will end before they pursue their own interests, and I doubt that they are going to share the world with each other…I´m pretty sure Nicbot will look out after Nico so that nobody gets the brilliant idea of backstabbing them," Starlow shared her thoughts.

"That´s a fair thought, each one of them wanted to pursue their own goals, though if Cackletta and Fawful teamed up again, they´d be three to two against Nico and Nicbot, and I don´t know if the two of them could hold out against them…we are talking about a clash between powerful individuals who we can only take on as a team, and even then are we only able to reliably take on one of them at a time. I´m not even sure who of them the most powerful villain is, I remember Cackletta all too well…" Luigi added, shivering at the memories of the witch who was the first major villain the Mario Bros had taken down as a team.

"You know what? It´d be better if we stopped thinking about all of this and put an end to everything in the desert, because I don´t want those guys to advance their plans any further than they have already done. With how much destruction they have brought the last time we dealt with them, I don´t want to know what they can do if they combine their forces," Mario interrupted them, bringing the whole group to silence as they reached the elevator bringing them down to Teehee Valley. They knew that he was right, things were bound to become a lot more tense if they failed to defeat Nico and the others this time.

* * *

"Eya ha ha ha, I am back, I can finally get my revenge on those two plumbers!" the figure exiting the portal exclaimed, looking around afterwards. "Ah, Teehee Valley? I wonder who has brought me here…could it have been-" the witch went on, but was quickly interrupted by Fawful running up to her. "The Great Cackletta has the returning, Fawful has the joy like a flower when it sees the raining during summer!" the small Beanish exclaimed, causing his former mistress to look down at him.

"Fawful, my loyal minion…I am most pleased that you have returned me to the world of the living…but look at you! With your appearance, I would think that you have become a respectable villain yourself," she eventually said with a smile, though Fawful shook his head. "I have had the bringing back of you, but it wouldn´t have had the possibleness without these two," he replied and pointed at Nico and Nicbot, with Cackletta narrowing her eyes at the sight of them.

"And who may these two be? Fawful, you know what I told you about cooperating with others, don´t you?" she asked him in suspicion, though Nico stepped in before her former underling could answer. "Allow me to introduce ourselves, Cackletta. This here is my loyal and trusty robot Nicbot, and I go by the name of Nico. Fawful had no choice if he wanted to revive you, because he had tried to avenge you by taking over Mushroom Kingdom and defeating the Mario Brothers, but was unfortunately bested by them and Bowser. I brought him back after having failed to defeat these heroes myself twice, in order to have you return so that we can destroy them with combined efforts!" the human explained the situation, Cackletta looking at him and Fawful alternatingly while he did so.

"Moustaches strong. Bowser is strong as well. They have beaten Master Fawful, now we beat them," the creature that had returned together with Cackletta spoke up after having remained silent for the whole time. "Midbus, I have the apologizing. I have fury and delight at seeing you again," Fawful exclaimed as everyone looked at the pink henchman of the Beanish genius. There was still a hint of tension in the air, mostly caused by Cackletta glaring at everyone.

"So you did become a villain in your own right, and even had your own loyal minion assisting you. I am impressed by your developments… but what about them?" she nodded at Fawful, but then shot a glare at the ones responsible for Fawful´s revival. "Well, perhaps we could strike the part where we distrust and beat each other up and instead focus our efforts onto eliminating Mario and the others, because we can all agree on them having caused us too much pain and suffering," Nico threw in, thinking ahead of the situation. It was obvious that Cackletta wanted to get rid of them, because they posed a threat towards her plans of domination.

"You do realize that you saying this makes you even less trustworthy? I think I´ll just reduce you to dust, you have served me well enough as is," the witch said, Fawful glancing back and forth between her and the two who had brought him back, as if he was unsure what to do about the whole situation. "Well, you are welcome to try, but if you desperately want to take on both Mario Brothers as well as their new friends who are a powerful team, then be our guest. I was able to see them taking the elevator from Little Fungitown down here, so they´ll be here in due time," Nicbot interrupted all of them as he hovered into the idea, looking north above of them.

"Ugh, already? Okay, look: we have the plan of bringing back more of those defeated by Mario and the others, including an entire race wiped out by them. As we have thought multiple times today already, I can´t participate another time, and someone is needed to disassemble the machine that brought you back before they are here…but we still need to hold them off somehow," Nico explained, Fawful quickly picking up on the idea. "Great Cackletta, let us have the ridding of the moustaches and then have the having of our way, yes? Let me and the human have the disassembling of the machine while you have the waiting, and Midbus and the robot shall have the stopping of those pests like a door that won´t have the opening to anyone," the Beanish offered, surprising Nico.

"Hrmph…fine, then do your work, I am still regaining my strength after this exhausting travel anyway. We will have a discussion later on though, uh…Nico was it, I think. Don´t just stand there, get moving!" she replied, with Fawful and Nico beginning to break down the device for creating portals into other places and worlds into smaller pieces for transportation, bringing them to the blimp Cackletta stepped onto, while Nicbot and Blizzard Midbus prepared themselves for the arrival of the heroes.

"You strong?" the blue monster asked the robot with a doubtful look. Nicbot retaliated by punching him into the gut at full force, pressing the air out of Midbus and pushing him back quite a distance. The creature seemed to have been caught off-guard, but he quickly stepped forward again and faced Nicbot again. "Not bad. You and I will have fight soon. See who is stronger," he nodded in acknowledgement, causing Nicbot to laugh.

"Ha ha, I like your attitude. You may not have much inside of your head, but at least what you lack there was invested in every other body part of you. Come, let´s face these pests and show them why we´re the chosen closest underlings of Nico and Fawful," the robot answered, looking over to the entrance of the area they were currently in. It couldn´t take long for everyone to arrive. And once they had the remaining evildoers back was he able to pursue the plan…all he needed was a chat with his creator during the night…

* * *

 **And so I arrive, like a sudden windstorm at a kindergarten picnic! Haha, no, I don´t plan to bring Dimentio into this. Anyways, sorry for the long radio-silence, but I had put this story on hold as I had finished my longer Deltarune-story. But now that it is done, I can finally attend this again! Though…I will admit that I have a bit of….trouble finding the motivation to write this particular story. I like the plot I have in mind, but I don´t exactly favour writing it…I will do it nonetheless, I owe that to you.**

 **Cackletta and Blizzard Midbus make their return, and slowly Nicbot´s plan sets into motion. One must wonder if Starlow and the others can stand up to all these villains…**

 **Stay tuned for the next chapter, and if you want to, leave a review!**


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